3 suspected militants killed during storm of building in Dagestan

Russian police killed three suspected militants in the latest in a series of operations in southern Russia during a storm of a building in the capital of Dagestan region on Thursday.

Two other suspects escaped and two police officers were wounded, said Murtuz Magomedov, deputy chief of police in the regional capital Makhachkala, reports the AP.

Police surrounded the two-story apartment house early in the morning before storming it. At one point the suspects detonated a grenade, destroying an outbuilding, and two escaped shortly after the blast, Magomedov said.

Dagestan, which neighbors war-ravaged Chechnya, has been hit by increasing violence believed linked to insurgents and criminal gangs.

Photo: NTV