Woman blows herself up in Russia's Chechnya region

Nov. 17 (UPI) -- An unidentified woman blew herself up Saturday near a police checkpoint on the outskirts of Grozny, the capital of Russia's Chechnya region, an official said.

No one else was injured in the suicide blast around 4 p.m. in the predominantly Muslim region, Chechen Acting Interior Minister Alti Alaudinov told reporters.

She approached Federal Police Checkpoint 21 on the outskirts of Grozny's Staropromyslovsky district, he said.

"Seeing her weird behavior, the officers on duty told her to stop and show her ID," Alaudinov said. "Instead of meeting the demand, the woman ran towards the checkpoint. The police officers noticed her wearing a suicide belt and at that moment they fired a warning shot.

"The young woman blew herself up."

Police are seeking potential accomplices of the woman.

In August, a police officer died in a series of at least four coordinated attacks on police in the Chechnya region.

A state of emergency in the republic was lifted in 2009 after Russia fought two wars against separatists in the 1990s and the early 2000s after the breakup of the Soviet Union.