9 Policemen Die in Blast Near Chechnya

A remote-controlled bomb attached to a tree blew up, killing nine Russian police officers and wounding about a dozen others near the border with the secessionist republic of Chechnya, Russian news reports said. The attack was one of the most serious in the region since Russia and Chechen rebels reached a peace agreement last year. The officers were on patrol in a truck in Khasavyurt, a southern town a few miles from Chechnya, when the bomb went off, news agencies said. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, and the Interior Ministry had no immediate comment on a possible motive.