Attack on a police checkpoint in Russia’s North Caucasus leaves 2 police, 5 gunmen dead

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian officials say a group of militants has attacked a police checkpoint in Russia’s North Caucasus region, killing two officers. Russia’s Interior Ministry says four other officers were wounded and all five attackers were killed in the shootout in the Karachay-Cherkessia region late Sunday. Authorities say the same gunmen had raided another police checkpoint in the region a week before, killing two police and injuring another. They didn’t describe the attackers’ affiliation or motive. While Chechnya has stabilized under the rule of Moscow-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov after two separatist wars, violence linked to Islamist groups has occasionally erupted in other parts of Russia’s volatile North Caucasus.