Three police officers were killed on Monday in a shootout in the southern Russian region of Dagestan after unidentified gunmen opened fire on their vehicle, regional authorities said.
The attack against the officers, who belonged to a traffic police unit, occurred around 2:20 pm local time, the local interior ministry said.
One of the attackers has been killed, the TASS state news agency cited the ministry as saying.
Unverified video published on Telegram channels showed the bodies of the officers lying on a city street beside a police vehicle. As passersby stopped to examine the bodies, more gunshots were heard down the street.
Another video showed a gunman dressed in black firing shots on the street and then fleeing.
Continued deadly attacks
Telegram channels published unverified photos of two men, whom they identified as the gunmen, lying in pools of blood.
Dagestan, a mainly Muslim region, has suffered several deadly attacks in recent years.
In March, counter-terrorism forces killed four terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS) who authorities said were plotting to attack a regional branch of the interior ministry.