russian soldiers
© Sputnik / Said TsarnaevFILE PHOTO
A woman has blown herself up near a police checkpoint in Grozny, the capital of Russia's Chechnya region, in an attempted terrorist attack. Swift police reaction ensured that the incident did not lead to any additional casualties.

The woman was approaching a police checkpoint in central Grozny when the officers noticed she was behaving "strangely," the acting regional interior minister told the Russian media. The police asked her to stop and show her documents for inspection. The woman, however, rushed to the checkpoint instead.

At some point, the officers saw a suicide belt she was wearing and fired a warning shot. The woman then set off the improvised explosive device some 75 meters away from the checkpoint. The suicide bomber was the only person killed in the incident and there were no additional injuries, the police confirmed.

The identity of the attacker has not been revealed, although local media reports had earlier suggested that she was a resident of Dagestan, a neighboring region, and was previously known to security services. Police are now looking for potential accomplices of the assailant.