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Chechnya's head: all the talks that gunmen are bossing in Grozny are absolutely false

Kadyrov made a statement on Thursday after reports came that alleged militants had attacked police in Chechnya’s capital Grozny, killing three officers
Chechnya’s head Ramzan Kadyrov ITAR-TASS/Valery Sharifulin
Chechnya’s head Ramzan Kadyrov
© ITAR-TASS/Valery Sharifulin

MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS/. All the talks that gunmen are bossing in Grozny are absolutely false, Chechnya’s head Ramzan Kadyrov posted on his Instagram page.

Kadyrov made a statement on Thursday after reports came that alleged militants had attacked police in Chechnya’s capital Grozny, killing three officers.

An anti-terrorist operation has begun in the city’s centre, with a group of gunmen trapped in the House of the Press.

Chechnya’s head has said that the operation aimed at neutralisation of the gunmen in the centre of the republic’s capital will end at dawn on Thursday.

Earlier, Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee’s / NAC/ confirmed that armed people had seized the House of the Press in Chechnya’s capital Grozny after an attack on a checking point of the traffic police and then an anti-terrorist operation began in the city’s centre.

“We received operative information on a car with suspicious people,” Kadyrov posted on his Instagram page. “A report was sent to all the law enforcement agencies. Traffic police made an attempt to stop the car but fire was opened out of it, killing three policemen. While escaping, supposedly five or six armed bandits hid out in the House of the Press.”

Kadyrov said that the situation in the city was calm, all vital services were operating in a routine mode and extensive steps had been taken to neutralise the criminals.

“I’d like to ask the dwellers to take precaution measures - stay inside and far from the windows,” the Chechen leader said. “The operation will be over by dawn. All the talks that gunmen are bossing in Grozny are absolutely false. Cars are passing by in the city’s streets as usual, hampering law enforcers’ operation, though. The incident was an attempt to make it look like there is a certain force but failed.”

Kadyrov does not rule out that “these people could have come from another region” since “no illegal armed groups capable to do it have remained in Chechnya.”

Kadyrov made a statement on Thursday after reports came that alleged militants had attacked police in Chechnya’s capital Grozny, killing three officers.

“On Thursday night at about one o’clock a group of unidentified persons going in three cars attacked a checking point of the traffic police,” the NAC said. “Then the wrongdoers broke into the House of the Press.”

Law enforcers of the Russian Security Service, Interior Ministry and Emergencies Ministry cordoned off the site.

The republican police’s press service told Tass that at least six militants had been trapped in the House of the Press in the centre of Chechnya’s capital Grozny.

“The police say there are about five to six gunmen,” it said. “They are trapped and the House of the Press has been cordoned off for their detention or neutralisation.”

The House of the Press hosts republican newspapers, online outlets and offices of federal media.