WASHINGTON — The Russian police tailed and killed nine suspected Islamist militants in the volatile Caucasus region.
Reuters reports that a leader of a group, which killed a local imam (or Muslim cleric) recently, was also killed in this counterterrorism action.
Russian security forces have killed several leaders of the Islamist insurgency, including the right-hand man of a key leader in the region.
Russia is trying to clear out the region in order to prepare for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, which is near to the troubled militant region. Chechnya and Dagestan have a history of militant Islam and is the focus of intense Russian counterterrorist activity.
According to Russian sources, police surrounded a home in Buinaksk and evacuated civilians before issuing an ultimatum. After the militants refused to surrender, the “nine militants were liquidated”, said the country’s National Anti-Terror Committee.
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