MOSCOW — Three suicide bombers tried to attack a small police station in southern Russia on Monday, but they were thwarted without causing any casualties, the investigations department for the region said in a statement.

The attack started just after 10 a.m. in Novoselitsk, a village near the city of Stavropol, when one of the men lobbed a grenade at a small office building used by the Interior Ministry, the statement said.

The police then opened fire on the attackers, killing two, and a third blew himself up, the statement said. There was some damage to the building and to nearby police cars, it said.

Previous reports had said the attackers were stopped at a checkpoint near the building.

The local police declined to answer questions about the episode, saying the case had been referred to the National Antiterrorism Committee, which had no immediate comment.