Gunmen injured a commander of a special police force in the capital of the southern Russian republic of Dagestan early on Thursday, one of the attackers was killed in return fire, a local Interior Ministry official said.
"Gunmen opened fire at SOBR commander Shapi Aligadzhiyev in Makhachkala. The police officer was shot in the chest and was taken to hospital," the official said.
The officer returned fire killing one of the attackers. Police are searching for the other gunman.
The mainly Muslim republic of Dagestan has been plagued by instability afflicting other regions of Russia's North Caucasus, including Chechnya and Ingushetia.
Militant violence, organized crime, high unemployment and corruption have been rife in the impoverished region dependent on subsidies from Moscow.
MAKHACHKALA, November 26 (RIA Novosti)
