A man said to be the leader of the Islamic insurgency in the Russian North Caucasus regions of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachayevo-Cherkessia has been killed by security forces.
Police officials in Kabardino-Balkaria told journalists on August 7 that Khasanbi Fakov, his wife Irina Ortanova, and their two associates were killed in a shoot-out in the republic’s capital, Nalchik, overnight.
Both Fakov and Ortanova were wanted for terrorist activities.
One policeman was wounded during the special operation and later died in the hospital.
Russia’s mostly Muslim-populated and ethnically mixed North Caucasus region has been volatile for years.
After two unsuccessful separatist wars in Chechnya in mid-1990s and early 2000s, the Islamic militancy has spilled over into other North Caucasus republics, such as Kabardino-Balkaria, Daghestan, and Ingushetia.