Global General

Eleven police injured in Russia's Ingushetia

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-04 17:33

MOSCOW - Eleven police officers were injured in a grenade attack on a police station in Russia's North Caucasian republic of Ingushetia, local investigators said on Tuesday.

An assailant attacked the police station on the Kavkaz highway near the Ingush capital of Nazran, using a grenade launcher late on Monday, according to Russian media.

"As a result of the attack, 11 police officers sought medical assistance," investigators told the RIA Novosti news agency. Earlier reports said seven officers had been injured.

No one was killed in the attack.

Russia's North Caucasus republics, particularly Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia, have been plagued by attacks on law enforcement officers, whom local rebels see as representing the Russian authorities.

Kremlin has pledged to wage "a ruthless fight" against militant groups, but also acknowledged a need to tackle unemployment, organized crime, clan rivalry and corruption as causes of the ongoing violence in the North Caucasus region.