MOSCOW: Militants attacked a convoy of Russian interior ministry troops in the violence-plagued North Caucasus province of Ingushetia on Wednesday, killing four soldiers, Russian news agencies said.
The attackers set off explosions as the convoy was passing and then opened fire with guns and grenade-launchers, state-run RIA reported, citing regional security officials. At least four other soldiers were wounded.
Russia is battling a persistent insurgency in the North Caucasus more than a decade after federal forces ousted a separatist government in Chechnya, adjacent to Ingushetia, in the second of two devastating post-Soviet wars there.
Rebels target police and security forces as well as government officials and mainstream Muslim leaders in frequent attacks in the region along Russia's southern edge.