MAKHACHKALA, April 24 (RIA Novosti) - A militant group leader suspected of numerous attacks on law enforcement officers was shot dead by police on Friday in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Daghestan, a police spokesman said.

The spokesman told RIA Novosti that Zakir Navruzov, who was on the federal wanted list, was surrounded by police in a house in the town of Derbent, and fired shots when told to surrender. He was killed in the return fire, and none of the police officers were wounded.

The report of Nazruzov's death is the second in seven months - police claimed to have killed him last September. Nazurov was is known to have been an accomplice of the late separatist leader Ilgar Mollachiyev

Daghestan and Russia's other North Caucasus regions have been plagued by violence linked to separatists based in Chechnya.

The Kremlin's military operation formally ended in Chechnya last week, but Russia was forced to reintroduce counter-terrorism operations in three districts of southern Chechnya at midnight on April 23, due to a resurgence of armed groups.