Russian authorities say one police officer and two suspected militants have been killed in a shoot-out in Daghestan, in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus region.
Daghestan police spokeswoman Fatina Ubaydatova said on December 30 that traffic police officers were trying to stop a car with suspected militants outside the city of Khasavyurt late on December 29 when people in that vehicle opened fire on them.
Police identified the two men as local militants who attacked policemen earlier this week in the regional capital, Makhachkala. Two officers were killed and one injured in that attack, police said.
Violence is common in the North Caucasus, which includes the restive mostly Muslim-populated regions of Chechnya, Daghestan, Ingushetia, and Kabardino-Balkaria.
Islamic militants in the region have mounted frequent attacks on police and officials, and some have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State extremist group.
