Chechnya: separatists' armed sorties

An explosion in Grozny has left four policemen wounded, the Interior Ministry of the Chechen Republic reported.

The explosion took place a few metres away from a checkpoint. As a result, two ensigns and a private - servicemen of military commandants' offices of Russia's interior troops - were heavily injured as well as a police officer in charge of the district police department.

Unidentified people shelled a police patrol guarding polling station 232 from sub-machineguns in the Aiti-Mokhk settlement, Nozhai-Yurt district, on Sunday, killing a police private Akha Akhmatukayev.

According to the interior ministry, the criminals apparently wanted to seize the policemen's weapons. They got hold of two Kalashnikovs and a Makarov pistol.