CHERKESSK, December 25 (RIA Novosti) - Police in Russia's republic of Karachayevo-Circassia in North Caucasus are conducting a special operation to apprehend a group of suspected militants in the center of the capital, Cherkessk, a local police spokesman said Monday.
"A group of militants have been surrounded in an apartment building," the spokesman said, adding that the operation began at 5.30 a.m. local time (2.30 a.m. GMT).
He said the group presumably consisted of four men, who offered stiff resistance opening fire and throwing grenades at police. He also said that two gunmen could have been killed or wounded, as only two of the group are currently returning fire.
The spokesman said the besieged apartment belongs to Temerlan Bostanov, one of the main suspects in the case of Ali Kaitov and his 15 accomplices charged with killing seven young people in October 2004. A verdict in the case is set to be announced by a local court later in the day.
The corpses of the seven residents of Karachaevo-Circassia - regional lawmaker Rasul Bogatyryov and six of his friends, - who had vanished in the early hours of October 11, 2004 - were found in an abandoned mine near the village of Kumysh, Karachaevsk district.
Their relatives said they had headed for the out-of-town house of Ali Kaitov, chairman of Kavkaz-Tsement company and son-in-law of the president of Karachaevo-Circassia. Witnesses spoke of rifle bursts heard near the house later for about half an hour.
Kaitov was arrested on October 25, 2004 under a ruling of the Board of the High Court of Karachaevo-Circassia. Other suspects were also detained.
