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Two militants killed in Dagestan

A homemade explosive device equivalent to some 1 kilogram of TNT was found during a search of the apartment where the militants had been hiding

MAKHACHKALA, August 20, /ITAR-TASS/. Two suspected militants have been killed in Makhachkala, the capital of the Russian North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, a law enforcement spokesman said Tuesday.

A homemade explosive device equivalent to some 1 kilogram of TNT was found during a search of the apartment where the militants had been hiding, Russia’s National Antiterrorism Committee (NAC) told Itar-Tass.

The militants have been preliminarily identified as members of the so-called Makhachkala gang Asad Abdullayev born in 1989 and Magomed Yunusov born in 1988.

“When told to lay down arms and surrender to authorities, the militants offered armed resistance and were neutralized during an ensuing gunfight,” the NAC said.

The site is being inspected by law enforcers. The militants are checked for involvement in terrorism-related crimes.

Russia’s law enforcement agencies continue fighting militants in Dagestan over 13 years since the battle phase of the second war against Islamist separatists in the neighboring Chechnya came to an end in 2000. Attacks on security officials and civilians occur from time to time in Dagestan, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria.