Unknown assailants attack police in Russian North Caucasus

Unknown assailants have engaged in a shootout with security forces in Makhachkala, the capital of the republic of Dagestan in Russia’s North Caucasus region, killing two policeman and injuring two more, the republic’s Interior Ministry said on Monday afternoon.

State-owned RIA Dagestan said that the assailants had fled in a police car after killing the members of the security forces. The city has been placed in lockdown as the authorities attempt to capture the assailants, it said.

According to the latest figures from the Dagestan Health Ministry, three people were killed and five were injured, three of whom were civilians, RIA Novosti has reported.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Dagestan Interior Ministry originally said that two attackers had died in addition to three police officers, while two other assailants had managed to make their getaway in a traffic police car. TASS said the car had since been found abandoned in the city.

The head of the republic, Sergey Melikov, said that police tried to stop the car, but the driver refused to comply and opened fire on security forces.

At least 21 people were killed when armed men attacked two Orthodox churches, synagogues and a traffic police post in Makhachkala and Dagestan’s second city, Derbent, in June.