Elite Russian security forces Sunday stormed a building in the capital of the turbulent North Caucasus region of Dagestan, killing eight militants in an hours-long gun battle, news reports said. Security official identified one of the dead militants as the "Emir of Makhachkala," the region's capital, who was believed to have been responsible for killing several Russian policemen and organising other attacks.
There were no losses reported among the Federal Security Service (FSB) and interior ministry officers involved in the raid.
Russia is fighting a Muslim insurgency on its southern periphery and deadly attacks on government officials in Dagestan, the North Caucasus' most populous region, as well as neighbouring Chechnya and Ingushetia are a daily occurrence.
The Kremlin has been fighting insurgents in the North Caucasus since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, waging a war in 1994-1996 against separatist rebels in Chechnya, which neighbours Dagestan to the west.
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