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2 Russian policemen killed in shootout

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-10 16:08

MAKHACHKALA, Russia: Police in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region say militants have opened fire on police who stopped their car, killing two officers and wounding a third.

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Dagestan's police spokesman Mark Tolchinsky says the policemen managed to return fire and killed one of the militants. Three others fled in the car.

Tolchinsky says the shootout took place early Monday after police stopped the militants' car, which had license plates from a Russian region hundreds of kilometers (miles) to the north.

Near-daily violence targeting police and other officials is intensifying along Russia's southern fringe. The attacks are blamed on separatist insurgents, Islamic radicals and criminal feuds.