Russian police have shot dead at least one alleged insurgent in a brief gunbattle this morning in the southern Caucuses town of Nalchik.
The man was killed early today when he and three others opened fire on a police patrol that stopped them to check their documents, Itar-Tass news agency quoted police as saying. The two men with him escaped, said the agency.
More than 100 gunmen linked to separatist rebels from nearby Chechnya tried to seize key buildings in Nalchik last week in a raid that police say killed 90 militants as well as 35 police officers and nine civilians.
The Kremlin, which has been trying to contain a separatist insurgency in Chechnya for a decade, hailed last week's operation in Nalchik as a success, pointing to the large number of rebels killed.
