Four militants have been killed in an ongoing police operation in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said on Thursday.

A group of about 20 gunmen was surrounded by police in the mountains in the Vedeno District on Wednesday.

"Four militants have been killed and there are some wounded among the surrounded gunmen," Kadyrov told RIA Novosti.

Two of the killed militants have been already identified, he said, adding that they were suspected of links to al-Qaeda.

The Chechen president also said one police officer was killed and another one injured in the operation.

Chechnya has seen a dramatic surge in violence recently, undermining efforts to bring life back to normal in the region after two brutal separatist wars in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Kadyrov earlier dismissed the existence of separatist moods in the North Caucasus, but said that small groups of militants are still active in the volatile region.

GROZNY, March 18 (RIA Novosti)