Russian authorities say two militants have been killed in the Kabardino-Balkaria region in the volatile North Caucasus.
Russian news agencies on September 18 quoted local authorities as saying that the two men, identified as local residents, were killed in a special operation in the region's Chegem district.
According to the authorities, law enforcement officers found an explosive device in the house where the alleged members of an extremist religious group were killed.
The mostly Muslim provinces of the North Caucasus have been plagued by attacks and fighting between security forces and militants in an Islamist insurgency stemming from two post-Soviet separatist wars in Chechnya, east of Kabardino-Balkaria.
Islamic militants and criminal groups routinely target Russian military personnel and local officials in their attacks in the region.
