Russia kills six militants in Caucasus clash: report

Russian forces have killed six militants in a clash in the troubled Caucasus region of Dagestan that also claimed the life of a member of the security forces, a report said Saturday.

The clashes overnight started on a main road south of Dagestan’s main city of Makhachkala and then continued in the surrounding forests and vineyards as the security forces gave chase to the militants.

“As of now, the bodies of six militants have been found. The operation is continuing,” a security source told the Interfax news agency.

The source said that one member of the security services was killed and three others were wounded.

The Islamist-tinted insurgency the Kremlin has fought in the northern Caucasus in the last years has become increasingly focused on Dagestan, a mainly Muslim region on the Caspian Sea inhabited by a patchwork of ethnic groups.