Russia’s Anti-Terrorism Committee said on Sunday that 10 militants who had sworn allegiance to Islamic State had been killed in a special operation in a southern Russian republic, Russian news agencies reported.
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The Russian agency said the raid was conducted Sunday morning near Nalchik, the capital of the Kabardino-Balkaria republic, and the militants were killed after opening fire on law enforcement officers.
Eleven gang members hiding out at a reinforced base in a mountain and wooded area were neutralized after they opened fire and tried to break through the encircled area, the NAK said.
Russia’s North Caucasus region has been beset by violence linked to an Islamist insurgency rooted in two post-Soviet separatist wars in Chechnya as well as organized crime, political disputes, and clan rivalries.
The North Caucasus militants had previously been united together under a local so-called Caucasus Emirate militant organization; however, they are now joining Daesh, which declared in June that it had established a franchise there. The focus on Islamic State has intensified since a Russian airliner was brought down by a bomb over Egypt’s Sinai peninsula with the loss of over 200 lives.
The anti-terrorism committee said the militants were also preparing a series of attacks in the North Caucasus region.
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On Saturday a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman urged Britain to co-operate with Moscow if it decides to extend its airstrikes campaign in Iraq to Syria.
