Three dead after attack on police in Russia's Chechnya

Two people were killed by law enforcement in the capital of Russia's volatile republic of Chechnya on Monday in an attack that left one policeman dead and another injured.

The authoritarian head of the restive region, Ramzan Kadyrov, said two "terrorists" armed with knives tried to pry weapons from police officers in the centre of Grozny and were shot dead.

He said the assailants had killed one officer while a second was in stable condition.

The two assailants were brothers from the neighbouring republic of Ingushetia who arrived in Chechnya in 2012.

The North Caucasus region, where Russian forces fought two wars against separatists in the 1990s and early 2000s, is under Kadyrov's tight control.

His regime has been condemned internationally for persecuting rights activists and for the reported torture and imprisonment of opponents.

Kadyrov has sometimes given orders at the scene during counter-terrorism operations, which often end with the killing of the suspects rather than arrests.

Although attacks on police have decreased in recent years in Chechnya, they still regularly occur in the predominantly Muslim region.

At least six people were killed in a shooting in October -- including two members of the security forces -- during a counter-terrorism operation in Grozny.