Islamic State has claimed responsibility for killing six Russian servicemen in the southern Russian region of Chechnya.
A group of gunman attacked a Russian National Guard unit around 2:30am Fridayin the Chechen district of Naursky, north-west of the regional capital Grozny, state media reported, with the attackers and the servicemen suffering an equal number of casualties.
Islamic State said in a statement that six "caliphate soldiers" managed to storm a Russian National Guard base in Chechnya, killing six Russian servicemen and wounding three others.
Russia has fought two wars against separatists in Chechnya in the decades following the end of the Soviet Union.
A simmering Islamist insurgency has endured in surrounding regions, but Chechnya, ruled by authoritarian leader Ramzan Kadyrov, has been comparatively peaceful in recent years.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed Friday's attack at a meeting with French presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen in the Kremlin.
"Today, so soon after the tragedy in London, a tragic event happened in Chechnya. ... We must open our eyes to this threat and join forces to fight terrorism," Putin said.
