Officers shot dead in Chechnya region

Rostov-on-Don: A local Interior Ministry official says unidentified assailants have shot dead three police officers in the troubled North Caucasus region of Chechnya.

The bullet-riddled bodies of three officers, who were guarding an Interior Ministry trailer, were found on a collective farm early on Monday. The assailants ran off with the officers' guns.

Chechnya has been torn apart by two wars since 1994, pitting separatist rebels against Russian forces.

Major fighting died down years ago and the region is controlled by a Kremlin-backed government, but militant attacks and other violence persist.