Eight militants, including one woman, have been killed in an ongoing security operation in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, the National Antiterrorism Committee said on Sunday.
A statement said the operation in Dagestan's capital of Makhachkala had lasted for 19 hours and was continuing.
The committee said it was launched based on information gathered by the Federal Security Service and after help from locals a house used by militants had been surrounded.
"In response to an invitation to surrender the militants offered armed resistance," the committee statement said.
A source in the republic's security structures told RIA Novosti that "according to preliminary data, the number of militants killed may be more than eight."
On Sunday in Makhachkala, the head of an international department for the fight against extremism in Russia's North Caucasus Federal District was shot dead as he drove to work.
Attacks on police and officials are common in Russia's North Caucasus republics, in particular Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia.
On Saturday, a bomb placed under a car went off in Dagestan's capital, injuring a police officer who was hospitalized with shrapnel wounds, while another officer was shot dead on 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.
MOSCOW, September 12 (RIA Novosti)
