ROSTOV-ON-DON, February 12 (RIA Novosti) - Four
police officers are now known to have died in a clash on
Thursday with militants in Nazran, the largest city in Russia's
North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia, a police spokesman said.
The incident occurred on Thursday morning after the police
officers had surrounded the gunmen in a house in southwest
Nazran. The subsequent shootout lasted for an hour and a half
before the house was blown up from inside by the terrorists,
the spokesman said. Three other police officers were wounded in
the incident.
Earlier reports said that one police officer had died.
Preliminary reports said three militants, including one
woman, died in the explosion, which had the force of the
equivalent of 70 grams of TNT. Three nearby houses and a number
of cars were damaged.
There were no immediate reports of injuries among
civilians, a police source said. A clean-up operation is
underway.
The Russia-based human rights group, the Moscow Helsinki
Group, said in September that the republic was on the verge of
civil war as fighting between militants and authorities
intensified. It also accused federal authorities of torture and
abductions.
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