You're reading: At least 24 killed in Russian Caucasus fighting

MOSCOW, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Seventeen police and at least seven insurgents were killed in four days of fighting on the border between theChechnyaandDagestanprovinces inRussia'sNorth Caucasus, police said on Saturday.

The toll among government forces was the biggest in months in the region alongRussia‘s southern border, where it faces an Islamist insurgency more than a decade after driving separatists from power in a war inChechnya.

Another 24 police and security troops were wounded in the fighting, state-run news agencyRIAcited Interior MinisterRashid Nurgaliyevas telling PresidentDmitry Medvedev.

He said the government forces had been ambushed, but it was unclear when that happened. Other reports suggested the police were killed at various times during the fighting.

Chechnya‘s Kremlin-backed leaderRamzan Kadyrovsaid on Friday seven members of an armed group had been killed, including its leader.

Russian forces fought two wars against Chechen rebels, first in 1994-1996 and again beginning in 1999.

Chechnyahas been rebuilt but fighting persists there and insurgents carry out nearly daily attacks in neighbouringDagestanand Ingushetia. Rights groups say heavy-handed police tactics fuel the rebellion.

The insurgents based in the mostly MuslimNorth Caucasushave also struck with suicide bombings inMoscow, including a blast that killed 37 people atRussia‘s busiest airport in January 2011.

(Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Janet Lawrence)