MOSCOW, February 13 (RIA Novosti) - Four members of an illegal armed group have been killed in Chechnya, a troubled region in Russia's North Caucasus, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday.
A ministry spokesman said police conducted a special operation in Gudermes, Chechnya's second largest city in the east of the republic.
"The operation was carried out Tuesday morning at about 7:00 a.m. Moscow time [3:00 a.m. GMT]," he said. "The bandits offered fierce resistance and were killed in a gunfight."
Although the latest war in Chechnya officially ended in 2001, which together with the first left up to 100,000 Chechens dead, periodic bombings and clashes between gunmen and Federal troops still disrupt the republic's comparative calm, with the violence often spilling over into adjacent regions.
According to official reports, over 50 militants were eliminated and over 500 surrendered to Federal Forces in 2006.
