Eight people were killed today in clashes between security forces and suspected militants in Russia's mainly Muslim North Caucasus, Interfax news agency said.
The agency, quoting an unidentified law enforcement source, said five insurgents and three policemen were killed in a gun battle on the border between the Christian-majority region of Stavropol and the mainly Muslim Karachay-Cherkessia province.
A decade after federal forces drove separatists out of power in Chechnya in the second of two wars, violence plagues the predominantly Muslim North Caucasus, where rebels want to set up an Islamic state.
Although violence in the Christian-majority parts of the region is rare, attacks are on the rise and political analysts say this means the insurgency is spreading.
Earlier this month, Islamist leader Doku Umarov said he had ordered a suicide bomb attack on Russia's busiest airport which killed 36 people on January 24th.
Reuters