By RIA Novosti
Makhachkala (Russia) : At least eight militants, including a rebel leader, were killed Monday when the police raided their hideout in the capital of Daghestan, a republic in Russia’s troubled North Caucasus.
Security forces, supported by an armoured vehicle, launched the first assault early Monday and continued firing throughout the morning.
“One of the militants has been identified,” the source said. “It is the leader of the Buinaksk group Khizri Mamayev, who was involved in an attack on federal soldiers on Nov 4, which killed two people.”
Earlier reports said four women with children were allowed to leave the building before the first assault started.
The Russian police and military have been fighting the Islamist terrorists in Daghestan after former president Boris Yeltsin ordered mobilisation of security forces against them.
Most of the terrorists operating in the Caucasian republic are from neighbouring rebel republic of Chechnya.