Woman blows herself up near police checkpoint in Chechen capital

Nobody else injured in suspected suicide bombing in Grozny

A Chechen policeman stands guard in Grozny (Getty Images)

A woman has blown herself up at a police checkpoint in the Chechen capital of Grozny in the south of Russia, say police.

Nobody else was injured in the blast in the Staropromyslovsky district of the city at around 4pm local time on Saturday.

Police general Apti Alaudinov said officers became suspicious as the suspected suicide bomber approached the checkpoint, according to the Russian state-operated RIA news agency.

They ordered her to stop and present identity documents before firing a warning shot when she rushed towards them and detonated an improvised explosive device, he added.

Police said they were searching the woman's body for further explosives before attempting to identify her and any possible accomplices. Unconfirmed reports suggested she was from Dagestan.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the predominantly-Muslim region, has claimed to have restored “calm and stability” in recent years as the republic recovers from two wars between 1994 and 2000.

However extremists continue to carry out sporadic attacks, mostly targeting military police.

In May three people were killed when gunmen stormed an Orthodox church in Grozny.

Three months ago a group of militants carried out a series of attacks on police targets in Chechnya, including one attempted suicide bombing.

Islamic State later claimed responsibility.

Additional reporting by Reuters