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Police killed as gun battle erupts in Chechnya's capital | Police killed as gun battle erupts in Chechnya's capital |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Several police died in clashes with militants who attacked a traffic post in the Chechen capital, Grozny, and then stormed a building housing local media, Russian officials said on Thursday. | |
The latest skirmishes in volatile Chechnya will be seen as a major affront to President Vladimir Putin who is set to deliver his annual state of the nation address later in the day. | |
“There are losses among personnel,” the National Anti-Terrorist Committee said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies. | |
The state RIA Novosti news agency, quoting a regional law enforcement source, said five police died and several were wounded. | |
There was no immediate comment from the Russian interior ministry. | |
The National Anti-Terrorist Committee said a group of assailants attacked a traffic post in Grozny in the early hours of Thursday and then stormed a building housing local media known as the Press House. | |
The militants were being blockaded inside the building by members of the police and security services, it said. | |
Five policemen were killed and a dozen wounded in Grozny in October when they stopped a young suicide bomber from attacking a concert hall where thousands had gathered to mark a local holiday. | |
That blast, which shattered a period of relative calm in the region, sparked concerns of a new cycle of violence in the north Caucasus where the Kremlin fought two wars with separatists over the past 20 years. Putin has promised to crush the bloody insurgency. | |
When Putin turned 62 on 7 October more than 100,000 people, decked out in the colours of the Russian flag, marched in Grozny, led by Kremlin-backed regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov who carried a portrait of the Russian president. | |
Some 1,100 guests including top officials and lawmakers will attend Putin’s address to the nation expected to lay out Kremlin’s political and economic priorities during a bitter confrontation with the West over Ukraine. |