Three police officers were killed and eight wounded in a shootout with armed fighters in the Republic of Ingushetia in Russia’s Caucasus, Russian intelligence agencies reported Thursday.
The shooting took place on Wednesday evening during an “anti-terrorist operation” in the Malgobek region, according to Ria Novosti and Interfax, quoted by the French agency AFP.
Last night there were skirmishes in Russian Ingushetia, Malgobek.
A group raided a traffic police station and attacked police officers.
Then they barricaded themselves in one of the buildings, the clashes continued.
At least 3 police officers were killed, 8 others were injured. pic.twitter.com/egEyoH8rrH
– Clash Report (@clashreport) April 6, 2023
Police sources told those agencies that the fighters, who had taken refuge in a country house in Ziazikov-Yurt, opened fire on the police as the officers approached to detain them.
“Three police officers were killed, eight others were injured and are currently in hospital,” said the source quoted by the Interfax news agency.
There are reports of a firefight between Russian security forces and militants in the Malgobek district of Ingushetia, southern Russia.
Russian authorities are sending reinforcements to the area. pic.twitter.com/4IOlLp0irt
– State-6 (@Archer83Able) April 5, 2023
The operation was launched after an armed attack on a road police station on the Ingush-North Ossetian border in late March.
According to the Ria Novosti news agency, two police officers were injured in that attack.
Ingushetia borders Chechnya, which in the late 1990s and early 2000s was the scene of two wars between Moscow and a pro-independence insurgency that gradually turned Islamist.
Source: DN
