Russian special forces stormed three buildings held by pro-Chechen gunmen Friday, crushing a raid by militants in the southern city of Nalchik that killed more than 100 people, officials said.
"All the embers of militant resistance have been put out and all the hostages have been released," Interfax news agency quoted Gennady Gubin, prime minister of the southern Kabardino-Balkaria province, as saying.
Twenty-four members of the security forces, 12 civilians and 72 militants were killed in two days of shootouts in Nalchik, bringing the preliminary toll to 108, RIA-Novosti cited Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev as saying in a report to President Vladimir Putin.
Russian troops carried out assaults on a police station, a souvenir shop and a prison administration building Friday morning, with the shooting only ending at around 11:00 am (0700 GMT) and relative calm restored to the city.
Troops used grenades and automatic weapons in their assault on a local police station where gunmen had barricaded themselves in and taken hostages.
Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Vladimir Kolesnikov said troops had killed eight gunmen and freed five hostages, Interfax news agency said.
In a separate assault on a souvenir shop where other gunmen were hiding, militants returned fire and an AFP journalist on the scene saw one soldier shot in the leg, with RIA-Novosti reporting two militants killed.
Twelve militants were also reported killed after Russian troops later stormed a prison administration building in the city.
The operations Friday came a day after scores of armed militants - estimates placed the number at between 100 and 300 - launched simultaneous attacks on government installations in Nalchik, triggering fierce street battles.
Thursday's commando-style operation targeted police stations, ministerial and security offices and a private armoury in the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria.
The province is one of seven Caucasus republics belonging to the Russian Federation - Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia being among the others.
A website frequently used by Chechen rebels, Kavkazcenter, said Thursday's attack was carried out by a unit of the local detachment of the armed Chechen rebel forces, which it identified as the "Yarmuk Jamaat of Kabardino-Balkaria."
Thursday's attack, which brought back memories of a June 2004 raid on Ingushetia in which at least 90 people were killed, is the latest in a series of assaults on Russian security installations in the volatile North Caucasus.
Local authorities linked Thursday's attack to their efforts to crack down on Islamic radicals in the region.
Russian newspapers meanwhile sharply criticised the authorities, saying the Nalchik attack demonstrated that the six-year war in Chechnya was spilling into other parts of the volatile North Caucasus region and that security forces were incapable of preventing rebel attacks.
"A second front in the Caucasus: Security services have again failed to prevent an attack against a city," Novye Izvestia said.
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