MOSCOW, June 11 (RIA Novosti) - Five militants were killed on Wednesday in a counterterrorist operation in Ingushetia, investigators in the Russian North Caucasus republic said on Wednesday.

Svetlana Gorbakova, a spokeswoman for the Investigation Committee at the Prosecutor General's Office, said the five people "put up armed resistance" during an operation against militant groups in the town of Karabulak this morning. "They were killed in the return fire," she said.

The Interior Ministry has warned locals of possible provocations by militant forces aiming to destabilize the province.

Ingushetia borders on Chechnya, a republic that saw two Kremlin-led military campaigns in the 1990s-early 2000s against separatist forces. Although the active phase of the operation was completed, sporadic militant attacks occur in Chechnya and neighboring republics.