MAKHACHKALA, January 11 (RIA Novosti) - Three militants have been killed in a 14-hour police operation that ended Thursday in Dagestan in Russia's North Caucasus, a deputy Russian interior minister said.
The operation to apprehend an armed group in the capital of the republic, Makhachkala, began at 8:00 p.m. Moscow time (5:00 p.m. GMT) Wednesday. The militants returned fire from an apartment block surrounded by Russian forces. Earlier reports said four militants were killed in the operation.
Arkady Yedelev said Shamil Gasanov, nicknamed "the lame," who was on the Federal wanted list, was killed in the operation along with Dagir Gadzhiev and a militant with the surname Khalid.
The deputy minister said the Gasanov-led group had been involved in attacks on police officers.
As part of the same operation police raided another apartment believed to be used by the group early Thursday, and found explosives, detonators, a map showing police stations in the city, and Islamist Wahhabite literature.
A police source said earlier in the day that no fatalities or injuries among law enforces during the operation had been reported.
Although the active phase of the North Caucasus antiterrorism campaign officially ended in 2001, periodic bombings and clashes between gunmen and federal troops still disrupt Chechnya and nearby regions, including Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Karachayevo-Circassia.
The commander of Russia's Joint Forces in the North Caucasus, Colonel-General Yevgeny Baryayev, earlier said about 700 gunmen continue to operate in Chechnya and neighboring regions.
Following the killing of Chechnya's leading terrorist, Shamil Basayev, on July 10, 2006, Russian authorities announced a partial amnesty July 15 for militants who were not involved in major atrocities.
A law granting amnesty to militants and servicemen guilty of offenses during the North Caucasus antiterrorism campaign came into force in late September 2006. About 400 militants have accepted the surrender offer since its announcement, mainly in Chechnya.
