Russian military convoy attacked in Chechnya

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A Russian soldier was killed in an attack on a military convoy in Chechnya on Thursday, Russian state media reported.

Unidentified assailants attacked the convoy on the outskirts of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya in Russia's mountainous North Caucasus.

“Unknown persons attacked a military convoy in the suburbs of Grozny,” state news agency RIA Novosti quoted the local Russian National Guard unit Rosgvardia as saying.

“One soldier was killed and a second was injured,” it said.

“Measures are being taken to find and arrest the attackers.”

Moscow fought a series of bloody wars over Chechnya in the 1990s and early 2000s, crushing rebel forces seeking to secede from Russia that the Kremlin blamed for insurgents across the country.

Strong local leader Ramzan Kadyrov has ruled the region for nearly two decades, securing huge handouts from Moscow in return for his unwavering loyalty to President Vladimir Putin.

Independent human rights groups say Kadyrov is ruling the region as his personal fiefdom, ruthlessly cracking down on his opponents and drastically restricting human rights.

bur/rlp