Unknown assailants attacked the convoy on the outskirts of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya in Russia's mountainous North Caucasus.

"Unknown people attacked a military convoy in the Grozny suburbs," the state-run RIA Novosti news agency quoted the local unit of the Rosgvardia, Russia's National Guard, as saying.

"One serviceman was killed and a second was wounded," it added.

"Measures are being taken to find and detain the attackers."

Moscow fought a series of bloody wars over Chechnya in the 1990s and early 2000s, wiping out rebel forces that sought to secede from Russia and that the Kremlin blamed for insurgent attacks across the country.

Strongman local leader Ramzan Kadyrov has ruled the region for almost two decades, securing huge handouts from Moscow in exchange for his unwavering loyalty to President Vladimir Putin.

Independent rights groups say Kadyrov rules the region as his personal fiefdom, ruthlessly cracking down on his opponents and drastically curbing human rights.