7 militants killed in southern Russia

MAKHACHKALA, Russia – At least seven militants were killed Monday in two separate operations in southern Russia, authorities said.

Dagestan Interior Ministry spokesman Vyacheslav Gasanov said two suspects were cornered overnight in an apartment by a special police force in the provincial capital, Makhachkala.

Officials say Eldos Zulfukarov, who was suspected of an assassination attempt in October on a regional prisons chief, was killed in the operation along with his accomplice.

Another person, apparently the female companion of one of the two men, also died in the clash, Gasanov said.

Zulfukarov has also been linked with the murder of Dagestan provincial penitentiary service deputy chief in September and a string of other attacks.

In an unrelated operation in a village in the Kabardino-Balkaria province, around 300 kilometers away, government troops Monday killed five militants together with an accomplice, security services spokesman Nikolai Sintsov said.

Southern Russia has been plagued for more than a decade by an Islamist-inspired insurgency. Authorities have registered sporadic successes in stemming the tide of violence, but attacks on senior regional officials remain a regular occurrence.