Police have killed two militants, including a local warlord in the Republic of Chechnya in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region, the Chechen authorities said on Sunday.
"Two militants have been killed in a forest in the Urus-Martan district of the Chechen Republic. One of them has been identified as Yunadi Batayev, the Emir of the Urus-Martan district," the authorities said in a statement.
Batayev was complicit in a whole series of grave crimes, including the murder of policemen and civilians, the statement said.
Police are continuing their security sweep in the area, the statement said.
Russian federal troops fought two brutal wars against Islamist separatists in Chechnya in the 1990s and early 2000s. Security forces troops continue to fight militants in the region and its neighboring republics, where terrorist attacks are common.
