"[Uvais] Tachiyev led a gang that had taken part in numerous murders of police officers. He was on the federal wanted list. In the course of the special forces operation, another three members of illegal armed formations were liquidated, including one woman," said Ruslan Alkhanov.
The identity of the other three militants has yet to be ascertained, added the minister. A large amount of weapons, including hand guns and automatic weapons, as well as ammunition, was discovered at the scene of the operation.
The group was discovered in a private house in the Leninskiy district of Grozny.
"Interior ministry troops blocked off the house and called upon the fighters to surrender, but they responded with gunfire. One special forces member was injured during the operation," the minister went on.
Chechnya saw two military campaigns in the 1990s-early 2000s, as Moscow sought to restore control over the mountainous republic, ruled at the time by a separatist regime.
Although the active phase of the war is over, sporadic clashes with militants and terrorist attacks are common in the troubled republic, as well as in adjacent republics such as Ingushetia and Daghestan.
The pro-Kremlin party, United Russia, received 99% of the vote in Chechnya in December during the country's widely-criticized parliamentary elections.
