A man found dead in the city of Karabulak in the southern Russian Republic of Ingushetia is believed to have been connected to an attack on a police checkpoint earlier this week, local media outlets reported on Wednesday.
Ingush police suspect that the deceased individual was part of the gang behind the drive-by shooting on law enforcement, but had been left behind by fellow attackers, the reports state. According to a source cited by RIA Novosti, the flag of an international terrorist organization was discovered at the scene.
Images circulating on social media show a corpse over which is draped the black flag of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS).
The shooting happened around midnight on Monday in the Nazranovsky District of Ingushetia, the police reported. An officer was taken to the hospital after being shot in the leg during the incident.
There are unconfirmed claims online that two other members of the same gang were involved in a firefight in the city of Gudermes in Russia's Chechen Republic, in which two suspected militants died, local authorities said.
The operation conducted on the outskirts of the city lasted “mere minutes,” after the two individuals refused to surrender and tossed a grenade at officers, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on social media.