MOSCOW, Aug 22 (AFP) - Up to seven people were killed late Saturday in an attack on a police station in Grozny, the capital of the Russian breakaway republic of Chechnya, the Interfax news agency reported, quoting officials.
"Several (Chechen separatist) guerrillas were destroyed. There are losses among (pro-Russian) servicemen too," a spokesman for the Russian forces in the North Caucasus, Major-general Ilya Shabalkin, told Interfax.
Seven people, including five policemen, were killed in the attack, in which assailants opened fire on the police station from a car, Interfax said, quoting "preliminary, unconfirmed reports."
Several other people were wounded in the incident, Interfax reported.
The ITAR-TASS news agency reported two policemen and three civilians killed and six other people wounded, also quoting "preliminary reports."
War-torn Chechnya is to hold a presidential election on August 29, after its pro-Russian leader, Akhmad Kadyrov, was killed in a bomb attack last May.
Russian troops marched back into the breakaway republic to put down a separatist rebellion almost five years ago, sparking a still ongoing conflict.