Two policemen killed by explosion in Chechnya

Two police officers were killed by the roadside bomb explosion in the capital of Chechnya, a law enforcement official said Wednesday.

The device, apparently detonated by remote control, exploded when a police vehicle was crossing a bridge in a neighborhood that has been plagued by violence, Chechen Interior Ministry spokesman Magomed Deniyev said. Its two occupants - police officers from a unit based near Moscow who were on temporary duty in Chechnya - were killed, he said.

Chechnya, a mostly Muslim region in southern Russia, has been devastated by two wars since 1994 pitting federal forces against separatist rebels. The separatist government was driven from power in the second conflict, which started in 1999, and major fighting has died down, but rebels still carry out frequent attacks and the region is plagued by violence.