Three militants were killed in Dagestan late on Friday in a shootout with police, a spokesman for the republic's interior ministry said on Saturday.

"Officers of the special purpose police unit clashed with militants while doing investigative work in the Karabudakhkent district. Three militants were killed. No deaths or injuries among officers have been reported," the source said.

The bodies of the militants are currently being identified.

Russia's mainly Muslim North Caucasus republics, especially Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia, have seen an upsurge of militant violence lately, with attacks usually focusing on police and officials.

In a separate development, two people were injured in two unrelated incidents in Dagestan.

A member of a local electoral commission was hospitalized with gunshot wounds after being attacked by a group of assailants in his house.

In another incident, a man was injured when his car exploded in the village of Kasumkent. The cause of the blast is currently being established.

A counter-terrorism operation regime was declared in Nalchik, the capital of another North Caucasus republic, Kabardino-Balkaria.

According to a spokesman of the local FSB department, at least four suspected militants were blocked in an apartment in a five-storey building and are now engaged in a shootout with law enforcers.

The group members are suspected of committing terrorist attacks and killing police officers, the source added.

MAKHACHKALA, August 28 (RIA Novosti)