Three policemen were killed in a shootout in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia, the Russian interior ministry said on Thursday.
Ingushetia is a majority-Muslim republic in Russia's North Caucasus bordering Chechnya. While such clashes with authorities used to be relatively common in the early 2000s, they have become rare in recent years.
"On April 5-6 overnight three employees of Russia's interior ministry were killed while performing their service and combat duties in the Malgobeksky district" of Ingushetia, the ministry said.
It expressed "deep condolences" to the families of Bashir Khautyev born in 1992, Maxim Alekhin born in 1984 and Maxim Rodyonov born in 1998.
Russian state-run news agencies earlier said that the police officers had died "during a shootout with a gang hiding in a private house in the village of Zyazikov-Yurt."
They added that eight officers were wounded and that a "counter-terrorist operation" continued in the area.
According to Russian media, during the operation police had tried to detain the group but they opened fire.
Last week, authorities reported that a police post on the border of Ingushetia and neighbouring North Ossetia had been shot at and that two policemen were injured.
