BREAKING NEWS

Russian police kill nine suspected militants in North Caucasus

By REUTERS

AUGUST 20, 2013 18:26

MOSCOW - Russian police on Tuesday killed nine suspected Islamist militants including the leader of a group behind the killing of a religious leader in the volatile North Caucasus region, Russia's counter-terrorism agency said.

The Kremlin is fighting to staunch an Islamist insurgency that has spread across the North Caucasus, near where Russia plans to hold the 2014 Winter Olympics in February.

Rooted in two separatist wars in the North Caucasus province of Chechnya since the fall of the Soviet Union, the insurgency is now at its bloodiest in neighboring Dagestan, east of Chechnya, on the Caspian Sea.

Police surrounded a group of suspected Islamists in a private house in the city of Buinaksk and evacuated nearby residents before telling the militants to surrender.

"Nine militants were liquidated by special forces, including the odious leader," a statement from Russia's National Anti-Terror Committee said.

The statement said the group had been responsible for the death of an imam in Buinaksk, Dagestan. Dagestan has seen a surge in killings of moderate religious figures by militants who follow stricter Salafist Islam.

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