Russian authorities say a local Islamist insurgenct leader who pledged allegiance to the militant group Islamic State has been killed in the North Caucasus region of Daghestan.
Russia's National Antiterrorist Committee (NAK) said that Khasmagomed Charanov was killed by security forces in Daghestan's Khasavyurt District, near the internal border with Chechnya, on April 27.
It said Charanov was killed at about 4 a.m. after he refused to surrender and opened fire at security forces.
According to NAK, Charanov was wanted on suspicion of involvement in several attacks on law enforcement officers, as well as extortion.
It said he he had recently taken a loyalty oath to Islamic State, an extremist group whose militants are mainly fighting in Iraq and Syria.
Daghestan and other North Caucasus republics are the site of frequent fighting between government forces and militants whose insurgency stems from two post-Soviet separatist wars in Chechnya.
Russia says hundreds of its citizens, mainly from the North Caucasus, are fighting along Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria.
