Armed assailants attacked policemen in various locations in the Russian republic of Chechnya on Monday, the region's leader said, adding that several officers sustained injuries.

One assailant attempted a suicide bombing but failed, Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov said.

Two policemen were wounded in the town of Shali, and several traffic police officers sustained injuries in capital Grozny, Kadyrov wrote on his official Telegram social networking account.

"The bandits have been neutralised," he added.

Kadyrov, who was visiting Saudi Arabia on Monday, said extremist propaganda that "confuses the young men" was to blame for the assaults.

"The situation in Grozny and Chechnya is absolutely calm," he said.

Police in the North Caucasus region said two men armed with knives attempted to enter the Shali district police department and "inflicted wounds on two police employees on duty" before being shot dead.

There has been no official explanation of the incident in Grozny. News agencies cited unnamed sources as saying an assailant ran over three traffic policemen in his car.

Chechnya's interior minister Ruslan Alkhanov said the assailants "attempted to destabilise the situation in Chechnya" but have been stopped. He said no officers were killed.