Islamic State terrorists have claimed responsibility for an axe assault on police officers near Moscow in what would be the group’s first terror attack in Russia.

Two men were shot dead on Wednesday after attacking a traffic police post in the Balashikha region, just east of Moscow. Reports said they were armed with axes bought in a nearby hardware store. Two officers were injured, one of them seriously.

The men were named as Usman Murdalov, 21, and Sulim Israilov, 18. Both were residents of Chechnya, the Muslim-majority republic in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus.

(TIME)