Five police officers were killed on Sunday morning in a clash with Chechen militants in the home village of Chechnya's president, investigators said.
"During the clashes, 12 militants were killed. Seven of them blew themselves up and it appears impossible to visually identify the gunmen. Four were fingerprinted and their identities are being established," the regional investigators' spokesman said.
"The identity of one has been determined," he added. "In early August, the investigations committee put him on a federal wanted list for participation in illegal armed groups."
Seventeen police and seven civilians were injured in the attack, which was the first on the village of Tsentoroi in six years. Earlier reports said that two police and five civilians were killed.
According to Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, the militants attempted to penetrate the village at dawn, but almost all of them were destroyed.
"From the forest, they crept up to a house on the outskirts and began shooting. A few minutes later we were at the scene. Fighting erupted. The gang was surrounded and destroyed. Twelve devils were killed," Kadyrov wrote on his official blog.
He said some militants who were filming the attack managed to escape. "We are confident that they will be found," he said, adding that the nearby forest was being searched.
A source in the power structures of the North Caucasus Federal District told RIA Novosti earlier that there could have been as many as 30 militants.
Kadyrov, who personally led the active phase of the response to the militant attack, said the situation in the village had returned to normal.
"It is calm in Tsenteroi. I am with my family in our native village," he said.
Investigators said three houses on the outskirts of the village were damaged during the clashes.
MOSCOW, August 29 (RIA Novosti)
