MAKHACHKALA, January 11 (RIA Novosti) - Four suspected militants have been killed in a 14-hour police operation that has ended in Dagestan in Russia's North Caucasus, a local police source said Thursday.
The operation to apprehend an armed group began at 8:00 p.m. Moscow time (5:00 p.m. GMT) Wednesday, according to a local police spokesperson. The militants returned fire from an apartment block surrounded by Russian forces.
The source said prosecutors and troops are inspecting the scene.
Another police source said earlier Thursday no fatalities or injuries among law enforces during the operation have been reported.
No official comments have yet been issued.
As part of the same operation in the capital of the republic bordering on Chechnya early Thursday, police raided another apartment believed to be used by the group, and found explosives, detonators, a map showing police stations in the city, and Islamist Wahhabite literature.
Although the active phase of the North Caucasus antiterrorism campaign officially ended in 2001, periodic bombings and clashes between gunmen and federal troops still disrupt Chechnya and nearby regions, including Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Karachayevo-Circassia.
The commander of Russia's Joint Forces in the North Caucasus, Colonel-General Yevgeny Baryayev, earlier said about 700 gunmen continue to operate in Chechnya and neighboring regions.
Following the killing of Chechnya's leading terrorist, Shamil Basayev, on July 10, 2006, Russian authorities announced a partial amnesty July 15 for militants who were not involved in major atrocities.
A law granting amnesty to militants and servicemen guilty of offenses during the North Caucasus antiterrorism campaign came into force in late September 2006. About 400 militants have accepted the surrender offer since its announcement, mainly in Chechnya.
