Russian security forces said today at least 20 insurgents had been killed in a gun battle in the North Caucasus region of Ingushetia, Russian news agencies reported.
Local police told said at least 10 insurgents had been killed in clashes in the region. It was not immediately clear if the latest figures took account of the earlier deaths.
Violence is growing in the patchwork of southern regions - including Chechnya, the site of two separatist wars with Moscow since the mid-1990s, and Ingushetia - that make up the North Caucasus. Islamist militancy overlaps with the activity of criminal groups and clan and ethnic rivalries.
"The operation continues and the search for the remaining bandits and the identification of those destroyed is underway," RIA news agency quoted a Federal Security Service (FSB) official as saying.
Local leaders in Ingushetia, with a population of some 300,000, say poverty and unemployment are fuelling the insurgency, though Russia's security sevices say links to al Qaeda also play a part.
The gun battle started on Thursday near the border with Chechnya.
"The police operation was resumed this morning. A gun battle is currently underway with remaining members of this armed group," a spokesman for the republic's branch of the FSB was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.
Reuters
