MOSCOW, August 3 (RIA Novosti) - Five police officers were killed and another six injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a police convoy in Russia's southern republic of Chechnya, a police source told RIA Novosti on Monday.
He said the shooting took place on Sunday at around 5:00 pm [13:00 GMT] as the convoy was passing through a gorge near the village of Itum-Kale.
"A convoy of three vehicles...came under automatic and mortar fire," he said.
An investigation into the incident has been launched, the spokesman said.
Chechnya has seen a surge in violence since the Kremlin officially ended its anti-terrorism operation in April. The republic saw two brutal separatist wars in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Four senior police officers were killed in a blast set off by a suicide bomber in central Grozny last week.
