Five Reported Dead In Daghestan Violence

Reports from Russia say five people, including a village leader, have been killed in separate shoot-outs in Daghestan.

Interfax quoted police as saying assailants gunned down Rasul Magomedov, the head of the Chernyaevka village in the north of the region, outside his home.

Earlier, a police officer was reported killed and four civilians wounded when gunmen opened fire on a bus.

Meanwhile, RIA Novosti news agency reported that three soliders were killed in a gunbattle about 40 kilometers southwest of Daghestan's capital, Makhachkala.

Moscow is trying to contain a growing Islamist insurgency in its North Caucasus republics.

compiled from Reuters reports