The alleged leader of an armed gang and a member of Russian security forces have been killed in a counterterrorist operation in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region of Daghestan, Russia's National Antiterrorism Committee (NAK) said on February 15.
In a statement, NAK said the operation in Daghestan’s central Untsukul district started on February 15 and it is still under way. No further details were immediately available.
Russia's North Caucasus is beset by violence linked to an Islamist insurgency rooted in two post-Soviet separatist wars in Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya. Organized crime, political disputes, business, and clan rivalry are also factors in the high level of violence.
Some militants in the North Caucasus have sworn allegiance to the extremist group Islamic State (IS).
