ROSTOV-ON-DON, April 21 (RIA Novosti) - A member of an illegal armed gang that targeted law enforcement officers in Ingushetia has been shot dead in the North Caucasus republic's Nazran District, security services said Tuesday.

"Law enforcers had information that militants involved in attacks... traveled in a black Lada Priora car without a license plate," a local Federal Security Service spokesman said.

He said that after the car was spotted officers ordered the driver to stop, but he opened fire and was killed in the ensuing shootout.

Ingushetia neighbors Chechnya, where a decade-long counter-terrorism operation officially ended last week. Although the active phase of the campaign ended in 2001, periodic bombings and clashes between militants and federal troops still disrupt Chechnya and nearby regions, particularly Ingushetia and Daghestan.