ON-DON, Russia, July 10, SPA -- Assailants detonated a roadside bomb and opened fire on an armored vehicle in Chechnya, killing three Russian servicemen and wounding five others, officials in the war-scarred region said Tuesday. The attack on the Interior Ministry forces occurred early Monday in southeastern Chechnya's Vedeno district, a stronghold of separatists. The attackers detonated a bomb made from an artillery shell as the armored vehicle passed and then opened fire, the Interior Ministry said. The assailants fled the scene and wounded servicemen were hospitalized, the ministry said. In Dagestan, east of Chechnya, suspected militants opened fire on police who stopped their car, and one of the gunmen was killed in the ensuing shootout, regional Interior Ministry spokeswoman Anzhela Martirosova said. The gunbattle occurred Sunday but was not reported by authorities until Tuesday.
