One Russian policeman killed, five injured in Caucasus violence

Oct 20, 2011, 8:30 GMT

Moscow - One Russian policeman has been killed and four injured in fighting with insurgents in the Caucasus, the Russian Interior Ministry said Thursday.

Four traffic police were driving on a highway in the Caspian Sea province of Dagestan late Wednesday when suspected rebels overtook their squad car and opened fire with automatic weapons, a statement from the ministry said.

One police officer died in hospital and two were being treated for serious gunshot injuries.

A search for suspects was in progress, police spokeswoman Tagir Pashaev told the Interfax news agency.

In a separate incident, Dagestan's rural Tsumadninsky region saw a Thursday shootout between a police unit and a suspected insurgent, who was detained. One police officer was injured in the exchange of fire.

Dagestan, some 1,800 kilometres south of Moscow, has been a centre of armed resistance to Kremlin rule since the early 1990s.

Around 160 Russian police officers and soldiers have died in 2011 in violence related to the insurgency, according to Interior Ministry data.

The rebels are thought to be a mix of nationalists, Islamic extremists and bandits.

Read more about Caucasus