NALCHIK
At least five militants were killed in clashes with Russian security forces in Kabardino-Balkaria Republic of North Caucasus, Russia on Thursday.
According to security sources, the militants were members of the Caucasus Emirate organization, and were part of the group’s “core structure”.
Receiving information on the militants’ presence at a nine-story building in the republic’s capital Nalchik, security forces launched an operation on the building and evacuated civilians before engaging with the militants.
An investigation is under way to identify those killed.
The Caucasus Emirate, active since 2007, is a militant Muslim extremist organization that seeks to expel Russian presence from the North Caucasus to establish an independent Islamic state.
It is listed as a terrorist organization by the U.K., the U.S., Russia and the U.N.
Russia is fighting ongoing insurgency in the Caucasus region. Late December, at least 19 people, including 10 police officers and nine militants, were killed and 28 others injured in clashes in Grozny, the capital of Russia’s autonomous Republic of Chechnya.
