Police officer, militant die in Caucasus confrontation

A police officer and a presumed militant were killed Saturday during a confrontation in the troubled Caucasus region of Dagestan, officials said.

The confrontation took place on the border between the districts of Sergokala and Kayakent in east Dagestan, a police official told Russian news agency Interfax.

According to initial enquiries, the rebel who died was a Turkish national.

Dagestan experiences almost daily shootings and bombings that officials blame on local criminals and Islamists with links to Chechnya, where the Kremlin fought two wars over the past 20 years.

Fuelled by endemic poverty and corruption, the militants are seeking to establish an independent Islamic state across the northern Caucasus.

Two Russian soldiers died Thursday in a shootout with militants in the region, officials said, and four servicemen and three policemen were also wounded.

Thirteen people were killed and about 100 others injured in twin attacks in the Dagestan capital Makhachkala.