"A militant opened fire when police surrounded his house in the village of Paraboch in the Shelkovsky district, killing a police officer and wounding two others," the source said.
The militant and his mother died in the ensuing shootout. Police have found a handgun, four grenade launcher rounds and a hand grenade in the house, he said.
Although the active phase of the North Caucasus antiterrorist 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.
Police Colonel General Arkady Yedelev said on February 1 that security-related agencies lost 239 officers in 2006, almost 100 fewer than in 2005, in regions of Russia where counter terrorist operations were conducted.
A total of 174 militants were killed last year in the North Caucasus, and 1,171 were detained, he said.
