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MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) — Security forces in a volatile province in Russia's North Caucasus have tracked down and killed two suspected militants.
Fatina Ubaidatova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Interior Ministry branch in the province of Dagestan, said that its forces surrounded a house in the village of Vperyod in the Kizlyar region where the suspects were hiding. She said they refused to surrender and were killed in combat Saturday.
Dagestan, located between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea, has become the main breeding ground for Islamist militants, who regularly attack police and officials. Russia fought two separatist wars in Chechnya.
Some militants in Dagestan and other parts of the North Caucasus have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group, and many residents of the region have joined the IS in Syria and Iraq.
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