6 Russian soldiers killed in attack in Chechnya

Six Russian servicemen were killed and several wounded in an attack targeting a National Guard unit stationed in the country's North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, official statements said Friday.

Six militants, with two wearing dummy suicide belts, attacked the outpost early on Friday and all of them were eliminated by the defenders, according to separate statements by the National Guard and the National Anti-Terrorist Committee.

An investigation team and the explosives experts of the Federal Security Service are working at the site, and an operational group of the Central Staff of the National Guard has been sent to Chechnya.

Currently, the process of identification of the assailants is being carried out.

RIA Novosti news agency reported that three Russian troops were wounded in the attack, quoting an unnamed source in one of the law enforcement agencies as saying.

The Russian National Guard, a paramilitary force, was created last year on the basis of the interior troops to fight terrorism, organized crime and drug trafficking.

Violence has been plaguing the Northern Caucasus regions in Russia since the mid-1990s, with separatists and extremists frequently attacking government, military and police facilities.