Five policemen wounded in Grozny

GROZNY, July 23 (RIA Novosti) - Five policemen were wounded in a gun attack on their vehicle in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, a local police spokesman said Monday.

All the injured police officers were hospitalized, and an investigation is underway.

A Russian Defense Ministry officer was also wounded in the Shatoi district.

Later reports said two members of illegal armed formations, aged 24 and 32, were arrested in the Grozny district. The two are suspected of committing crimes in Chechnya and are currently being interrogated.

In addition, police in the Vedeno district in southeastern Chechnya found a large weapons cache belonging to militants.

Chechnya was devastated by two military campaigns, in 1994-1996 and 1999-2001, after which Moscow significantly scaled down its military presence in the republic. But random fighting and terrorist attacks still occur in the area, despite a widely publicized amnesty campaign announced by Russian authorities.