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Russia government troops kill 16 militants in North Caucasus

Other News Materials 29 April 2011 14:03 (UTC +04:00)

Soldiers under Russian command killed at least 16 militants during a two-day anti-terrorism operation in the troubled north Caucasus region, officials said Friday, dpa reported.

Special forces troops operating in the border region between the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria and the southern Stavropol province shot dead eight men and two women on Thursday, the Interfax news agency reported, citing government spokesman.

The suspected Islamic militants entrenched themselves in a house and fired first on Kremlin forces, the report said. No Russian casualties were reported.

Troops performing a security sweep in the neighbouring Republic of Dagestan killed at least six more militants, according to the report.

The Kremlin has launched an intensified campaign to stamp out anti-government fighters in the North Caucasus region in the wake of a January terror bombing of Moscow's Domodedovo airport killing 36, thought to have been caused by a militant Islamic suicide bomber.

Russian paramilitary police and ethnic Chechen forces loyal to the Kremlin are the units most commonly called on to conduct raids and security sweeps against anti-government opponents in the Mprtj Caucasus.

Islamic extremists have called for the region to become an independent Emirate, and have alleged pro-Russia forces sometimes kill peaceful civilians and then describe the victims as terrorists.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in 2002 declared combat operations against mostly ethnic Chechen fighters "over," but the Caucasus region has remained turbulent with anti-government groups conducting a low-intensity guerrilla war against Moscow's forces amidst widespread banditry.

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