You're reading: Russia says kills five militants in Ingushetia

MOSCOW  - Russian security forces killed five militants in the restive North Caucasus province of Ingushetia, the federal Anti-Terrorist Committee said on Wednesday, Sept. 19.

Police and Federal Security Service (FSB) officers stopped a
car carrying suspected militants on Tuesday and killed all five
occupants in a brief gun battle that ensued, the committee said
in a statement.

It said three of the men were wanted on suspicion of
terrorism and had belts with explosives on them.

The account was similar to many issued by authorities about
incidents of violence in the North Caucasus and could not be
independently verified.

Ingushetia is plagued by frequent attacks targeting police
or officials linked to an Islamist insurgency stemming from
years of conflict in neighbouring Chechnya, where federal forces
drove out a separatist government more than a decade ago.

Militants in the North Caucasus say they are fighting for an
Islamic state in the strip of provinces along Russia’s southern
border. Rights activists say the insurgency is fuelled by
poverty and anger at the tactics of the security forces.