NALCHIK, October 25 (RIA Novosti) – Police officers have killed a suspected militant who opened fire on them in the Russian North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, the Interior Ministry reported Thursday.
One police officer was wounded in a shootout with the suspect, a ministry spokesman told RIA Novosti.
A traffic police officer saw a suspicious man near his home and called a police squad. The man opened fire on the squad and threw a grenade at them, and was killed by return fire.
An investigation is under way.
More than a decade after the formal end of the federal military campaign against separatists in the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, Russian security forces continue to fight militants in neighboring Dagestan and other regions in the area, who stage frequent attacks on security forces, police and civilians, driven by ethnic, religious and political rivalries, as well as poverty and corruption.
The violence is also fed by an Islamist insurgency, which has been especially resilient in Dagestan.
