Russia said on Friday that six of its soldiers had been killed after successfully repelling an assault on a military facility in Chechnya, an attack the "Islamic State" (IS) militant group said it had carried out. It said a gun battle had ensued and that a number of Russian troops had been wounded in addition to the six who had been killed. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement circulated online. It said six of its militants had targeted a military base at Naurskaya, north-west of Grozny, the Chechen capital, and that all six had been killed in a battle which it said lasted several hours. The wider North Caucasus region remains volatile however with unemployment and corruption pushing some young men to embrace radical Islam.

Source: Egypt Independent March 24, 2017 15:22 UTC