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Two Gunmen Killed in Dagestan
MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) - An early morning shootout between police and gunmen with automatic weapons left a bystander and two of the gunmen dead in the southern Russian region of Dagestan on Wednesday, police said. The violence was the latest in a series of attacks involving police and government officials in the region bordering Chechnya, raising fears that yet another Caucasus region would be consumed by violence and chaos. The shootout began around 7 a.m. when police went to a two-story brick building in the capital, Makhachkala, to search a building suspected of housing gunmen, said Marina Riasulova, a spokeswoman for the city's Interior Ministry. As police approached the house, at least five gunmen inside opened fire with automatic weapons and police returned fire in a shootout lasting for nearly two hours, authorities said. A witness who accompanied police was shot and killed in the crossfire.
Russia's Deputy Interior Minister Andrei Novikov said the gunmen were responsible for an explosion Tuesday that tore through a police post in Makhachkala, killing at least two officers and wounding three. City police spokesman Khabib Magomedov said police discovered Meanwhile, the regional Interior Ministry said an explosive device destroyed part of a natural gas pipeline just after midnight Tuesday, cutting off gas supplies to Makhachkala and southern parts of the region. Dagestan borders Chechnya, where separatist rebels have been fighting Russian forces since 1999, and violence that some believe is connected with the Chechen insurgency is increasing in the republic. Posted by: Steve 2005-07-06 |
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