MAKHACHKALA, July 12 (RIA Novosti) - Eight militants and one policeman have been killed in separate incidents in Russia's North Caucasus over the past 24 hours, local police said on Sunday.
Five militants were shot dead early on Sunday in the town of Khasavyurt on the Makhachkala highway in the Republic of Daghestan when police stopped a car without vehicle registration plates for a check, the police said.
The driver of the car refused to obey the police order while the car passengers opened automatic fire at the police. By retaliation fire, all the five gunmen inside the car were killed, the police said.
The gunmen killed by the police were members of the Jamaat Islamist group. The identities of three of them have been established, the police said.
The police also found four Kalashnikov automatic rifles and a large arsenal of ammunition in the militants' car, the police said.
In a separate episode, three suspected militants were killed early on Sunday in the capital of Chechnya, Grozny, when police stopped a car for a check, local police said.
The unidentified persons inside the car opened automatic fire at the police and were killed by retaliation fire, with no casualties among the police, the local police said.
In a separate episode, unidentified persons shot dead a policeman in a drive-by attack on Saturday on the outskirts of the village of Kirovaul in the Kizilyurt district in central Daghestan. Measures are under way to find the attackers, the police said.
Militant attacks and clashes remain common in Russia's North Caucasus although the Kremlin campaign to fight separatists and terrorists in Chechnya has officially ended. Violence often spills over into nearby republics, in particular Ingushetia and Daghestan.
