MAKHACHKALA, August 10 (RIA Novosti) - Two police officers and one militant were killed overnight in a shootout in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, a local Interior Ministry official said on Monday.
"Around 01:00 Moscow time [21:00 GMT Sunday] not far from the village of Kuma [in southern Dagestan], police officers stopped a Lada car with Kirov Region plates for a document check. However, the occupants of the vehicle opened fire on the police," he said.
The official said two police officers were killed and one was wounded. The Kirov Region is hundreds of kilometers north of Dagestan in northeastern European Russia.
"The police returned fire and killed one of the militants. The remaining militants, tentatively there were three, escaped. Preliminary information is that at least one was wounded," he added.
The discarded car was found 10 kilometers (six miles) away from the scene with shot-up tires. Bomb disposal experts were working to ensure there were no explosives in the vehicle.
Dagestan and other regions in Russia's volatile North Caucasus have seen a rise in violence in recent months, with attacks on police, troops and authorities and skirmishes being reported almost daily.
In neighboring Chechnya on Sunday, a police officer was seriously injured by a landmine and has been hospitalized.
A law-enforcement source in the republic said the mine could have been tripped by the officer or detonated remotely.
