Authorities say two police officers and three alleged militants have been killed in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region of Chechnya.
Regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on January 30 that the three men opened fire on police officers who asked for their identification documents.
He said the exchange of gunfire took place in the central town of Shali overnight.
According to Kadyrov, the three men opened fire at police when requested to present their identification documents.
Kadyrov said authorities believe they were members of a militant group coordinated online by Magomed Rashidov, a Shali native who has allegedly joined Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria.
The security situation remains unstable in Chechnya, where Moscow waged two wars against separatists following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.