MOSCOW (AP) — The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on Chechen police in Russia's Northern Caucasus.

The attacks Monday in three locations in Russia's predominantly Muslim Chechnya left several policemen injured. Five militants, aged between 11 and 16, were killed.

IS claimed responsibility Tuesday for the attack in the regional capital Grozny and in the Shali area just south of Grozny.

Radical Islamic militants, some of whom have sworn allegiance to IS, have conducted sporadic raids in Chechnya in the past, defying the rule of the Kremlin-friendly leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

Monday's violence indicated the Islamist insurgency remains active in the province despite authorities' claims that it has been eradicated.