News / Russia

Police in Astrakhan gun down 4 suspects accused of killing 2 officers

Thursday, 06 April 2017 10:29 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 06 April 2017 10:29 AM ]

Police officers guard the entrance to Sennaya Square metro station in Saint Petersburg on April 3, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Police in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan say they have gunned down four suspects allegedly involved in a shooting attack that left two police officers dead, and seized their weapons.

On Tuesday, two traffic police officers were killed at point-blank range in the city after they were attacked by a group of armed assailants.

According to a statement released by Russia’s Investigative Committee on Thursday, another attack was launched by four gunmen, who were also involved in Tuesday’s assault, in another district of the city.

The gunmen opened fire from a moving vehicle at Russian National Guard servicemen, who were guarding a checkpoint. Three soldiers sustained injuries.

One of the assailants was shut dead on the spot and another was fatally wounded in the back, the statement further said, adding that the other two fled the area and remained at large.

The Russia’s Investigative Committee said that the National Guard had found the remaining suspects, who refused to surrender and fired back at officers, triggering a fierce gun battle later in the day, in which the two suspects had been killed.

Following the Tuesday’s attack, Alexander Zhilkin, governor of Astrakhan Oblast, had said that the assailants were radicalized extremists. This, however, has not yet been confirmed by investigators.

The shooting attack on Thursday came three days after a metro explosion in St. Petersburg killed 14 people and injured almost 50 others. The carnage was caused by a bomb that had been detonated by a man, a Kyrgyz national, whose body parts were found in one of the train carriages.

The deadly explosion has been met with condemnations from world countries and organizations.

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