1 policeman, 4 militants die in gunbattle in Chechen capital

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A police officer and four militants were killed Sunday in a gunbattle in Chechnya's provincial capital, officials said. Police acting on a tip surrounded an apartment building where several militants were said to be hiding early Sunday, said Magomed Deniyev, a spokesman for Chechnya's branch of Russia's Interior Ministry. The militants refused to surrender and opened fire at police. In the ensuing gunbattle which raged for 4½ hours, police lost one officer and killed all four militants, Deniyev said. Police also found the body of a woman in the apartment where the militants were holed up. She was apparently the owner of the apartment.