NAZRAN/ MOSCOW, June 20 (RIA Novosti) - A special operation countering a group of gunmen that had barricaded themselves in an apartment block in Nazran in Ingushetia, ended Monday in the death of two militants.
The Ingush interior ministry press service reported that the operation had started after an attack on law enforcement officers who arrived at an apartment block on Kommunalnaya Street to verify information concerning an explosion on the Kavkaz (Caucasus) highway on May 23, 2005.
After the gunmen were asked to surrender, two women left the building, but the remainder continued fighting. The shootout continued for more than an hour.
According to a source in the republic's secret bodies, the women told the police that they were Chechens and were renting the premises.
The women also said that one of the dead gunmen was a member of an illegal armed formation.
