MOSCOW, August 23 (RIA Novosti) - A group of servicemen ambushed 15 gunmen in a forest in the Nozhai-Yurt district of eastern Chechnya in Russia's North Caucasus, but the suspected militants escaped, local police said.
No servicemen were killed or injured in the gunfight early on Wednesday, and troops are continuing the pursuit, a local police source said.
On Tuesday in the same district, two unidentified armed men in camouflage opened fire and threw a grenade at policemen who tried to detain them.
Moscow has scaled down its military presence in the republic in recent years, but sporadic clashes continue between federal troops and militants.
On Thursday, assailants fired from a grenade launcher at federal troops' headquarters in the town of Shali, about 12 miles southeast of Grozny, local police reported.
