Special forces killed four suspected rebels during an operation in Russia's North Caucasus region Saturday in which three members of the security forces were also wounded, security officials said. The operation in Baksan, a town in Kabardino-Balkaria, came only three days after unidentified assailants killed the local police chief when they shot at his car on Wednesday evening.
According to statements from the country's anti-terror unit, quoted by the Interfax news agency, a total five people were injured in Saturday's operation, including two civilians. The Kremlin has been fighting insurgents in the North Caucasus since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, waging two wars against separatists there. Although the second war ended in 2000, the unrest has increasingly been spreading across the Caucasus, with nearly daily attacks targeting security officials, religious leaders, and civilians.