ROSTOV-ON-DON, October 22 (RIA Novosti) - A police officer died on Thursday after a vehicle carrying a local police chief was hit by a remotely-detonated explosive device in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia, investigators said.

A spokesperson for investigators told RIA Novosti that the officer died after police chief Isa Korigov's car was targeted in the city of Malgobek, in the north of the volatile republic.

Korigov was wounded in the blast, but there is as yet no information on his condition. His wife was also in the vehicle at the time of the blast and is in intensive care.

"At about 8.50 a.m. [04.50 GMT] the car was hit by an explosive device," the spokesman said. "Three people were taken to hospital, where one of them, a policeman, died."

Ingushetia, one of Russia's poorest regions, has been hit by a series of high-profile attacks on troops, police and other officials recently.

Ingush President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov survived a car bomb attack on his motorcade in June and returned to work in August.