13 militants killed in Russia’s Dagestan

Moscow, Sep 13 (IANS/RIA Novosti) At least 13 militants were killed in a raid carried out by the security personnel in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, the National Anti-terrorism Committee said Monday.

Ten militants were killed in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala with another three “eliminated” in the Kizilyurt district’s Komsomolskoye village. Two police officers were also killed in the operation, the committee said.

security operation, which lasted for 19 hours, was launched after the head of the anti-extremism department in Russia’s North Caucasus Federal District was shot dead as he drove to work in Makhachkala.

Attacks on police and officials are common in Russia’s North Caucasus republics, in particular Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia.

Saturday, a bomb placed under a car went off in Dagestan’s capital, injuring a police officer, while another officer was shot dead Friday in the republic.

A week ago, Dagestan’s Minister of National Policy, Foreign Relations and Information, Bekmurza Bekmurzayev, survived an apparent assassination attempt that killed his driver and injured two bodyguards.

–IANS/RIA Novosti