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4 policemen, 3 civilians shot dead in south Russia
(Agemcies)
Updated: 2009-08-14 02:17

MAKHACHKALA/Russia:An Interior Ministry spokesman says unidentified gunmen have shot and killed four police officers and three civilians in a restive Russian province near Chechnya.

Mark Tolchinsky says the attackers fired at a police checkpoint Thursday in the city of Buinaksk in the province of Dagestan, killing four officers on the spot. They also shot and killed three women in a nearby bathhouse.

Tolchinsky said two other police officers were wounded by unidentified militants in two other separate attacks Thursday in the provincial capital Makhachkala.

Dagestan, which is located east of Chechnya, has been destabilized by regular attacks on police and other officials by Islamic militants. The region's top law enforcement officer was killed by a sniper in June.