Police Kill Militant Leader, 4 Islamist Rebels in Dagestan

MOSCOW, March 25 (RIA Novosti) - A suspected militant leader and four members of his armed group were killed Tuesday in a shootout with police in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, Russia’s anti-terrorism authority said.

The National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAK) identified the militant leader as Tural Ataev, a 28-year-old native of Azerbaijan, who allegedly headed a militant group in the Babayurt district of Dagestan.

One police officer was killed and another wounded in the shootout with the militants, the NAK said.