MAKHACHKALA, July 24 (RIA Novosti) - Two police officers and one gunman have been killed in an operation to apprehend a group of militants in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Daghestan, local police said.
A spokesman said one officer had also been injured.
The Interior Ministry press-service said a group of three gunmen had been surrounded early Monday in a forested area in the Khasavyurt region, which borders on Chechnya. Previous reports suggested the group had been holed up in a house.
The press service said that the militants were accomplices of warlord Rapani Khalilov, who is wanted in connection with a 2002 bombing in the town of Kaspiisk that left 43 people dead.