GROZNY, September 12 (RIA Novosti) - Three police officers were hospitalized with serious injuries on Saturday after an explosion in Grozny, the capital of Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, a police spokesman told RIA Novosti.

It was earlier reported that the police officers had died.
“At 8:00 a.m. [04:00 GMT]…a blast occurred in the centre of Grozny,” he said, adding that the explosive device had been detonated by a suicide bomber.
Chechnya, like neighboring republics Dagestan and Ingushetia, has seen an upsurge of militant violence of late, with frequent attacks on police.
The Kremlin officially ended its anti-terrorism operation in Chechnya in April. The republic saw two brutal separatist wars in the 1990s and early 2000s.