GROZNY, August 2 (RIA Novosti) - A militant was killed in a firefight in southwestern Chechnya when police attempted to stop his car for an ID check, a Chechen Interior Ministry spokesman said Thursday.
"An unidentified driver opened fire at police officers when they tried to stop his car for an ID check on a road between the villages of Komsomolskoye and Martanchuin, in the Urus-Martan district of Chechnya," Magomet Deniyev said.
The police official said the driver was killed by return fire, and his identity was being established.
An assault rifle, a grenade launcher and an artillery shell were found in the car.
Although the active phase of the antiterrorism campaign in Russia's troubled North Caucasus region officially ended in 2001, periodic bombings and clashes between militants and federal troops still disrupt Chechnya and nearby regions, including Daghestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Karachayevo-Circassia.
