Islamic State on Thursday claimed responsibility for an attack on a traffic police post outside Moscow a day earlier in which both of the attackers were killed.

The militant group made the claim via the Amaq news agency, which it regularly uses to issue statements.

The Amaq statement said: ‘Two fighters of the Islamic State assaulted Russian policemen in the Balashikha area, east of Moscow’.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said two unidentified people armed with a firearm and two axes had attacked a traffic police post outside Moscow on Wednesday.

One of them was shot dead while attacking the post while the other was killed when he tried to put up armed resistance, investigators said.

Two police were injured in the attack, one seriously.

Russia has been bombing militants in Syria in an aerial campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad.