Four militants and one soldier were killed in clashes early Sunday in Russia's North Caucasus region of Daghestan, said a spokesman of the local interior ministry, Xinhua reported.
The shootout happened at around 5:00 a.m. Moscow time (0100 GMT) in the south of the regional capital, Makhachkala, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.
Security forces opened fire on a forest where militants were hiding, the spokesman said.
Although the Kremlin's operation against separatists and terrorists has officially ended, militant attacks and clashes still plague Russia's North Caucasus region.