Rebels killed three policemen and three civilians in Russia's volatile province of Chechnya early on Sunday, Interfax news agency quoted police sources as saying.

A police officer and a civilian were killed when gunmen shot at a village police station in the southern Vedeno district shortly after midnight. Another two policemen and two civilians were ambushed and killed in the nearby Urus Martan district.

Russia has fought two wars against pro-independence rebels in mainly Muslim Chechnya since 1994. Moscow says life in the tiny North Caucasus republic is back to normal now, but bombs and rebel attacks often kill soldiers and civilians.