Police Officer, Two Militants Killed In Kabardino-Balkaria

A police officer and two suspected militants have been killed in an antiterrorist operation in Russia's North Caucasus Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria.

Police say two armed men refused to leave a house in the village of Zalukokoazhe and opened fire at police and security forces on October 29.

The two were killed in a shoot-out that lasted several hours.

One police officer was fatally wounded in the operation.

The North Caucasus has become Russia's most violence-plagued region in recent years.

The violence is often linked to organized crime or an Islamic insurgency.

Islamists in Kabardino-Balkaria, Daghestan, Ingushetia, and Chechnya frequently attack police, moderate Muslims, and local officials, saying they are fighting to create an Islamic state in southern Russia.