Three police officers shot dead in Russia's Dagestan

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo via Reuters

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Three police officers were killed on Monday in a shootout in the southern Russian region of Dagestan after unidentified gunmen opened fire on their vehicle, regional authorities said.

The attack against the officers, who belonged to a traffic police unit, occurred around 1420 local time (1120 GMT), the local interior ministry said.

One of the attackers has been killed, the TASS state news agency cited the ministry as saying.

Unverified video published on Telegram channels showed the bodies of the officers lying on a city street beside a police vehicle. As passersby stopped to examine the bodies, more gunshots are heard down the street.

Other video showed a gunman dressed in black firing shots on the street and then fleeing.

Telegram channels published unverified photos of two men which they identified as the gunmen lying in pools of blood.

Dagestan, a mainly Muslim region, has suffered several deadly attacks in recent years.

In March, counter-terrorism forces killed four militants affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS) who authorities said were plotting to attack a regional branch of the interior ministry.

 (Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou and Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)