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Several militants killed in special operation in St. Petersburg — FSB

The information about a wounded FSB officer has not been confirmed

ST.PETERSBURG, August 17. /TASS/. Several members of illegal armed groups were killed when an apartment was stormed in a special operation conducted by Russia’s Federal Security Service in St. Petersburg’s Krasnoselsky district, a local FSB department said on Wednesday.

"During an attempt to offer armed resistance the criminals were eliminated by return fire," the FSB said. "No one among the civilians and law enforcers was hurt," it added.

Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said all four suspected members of the armed group were killed in the operation.

Earlier reports said the FSB had completed the operation in St. Petersburg’s Krasnoselsky district to detain members of an illegal armed group active in the North Caucasus.

The cordon around the house where the operation was carried out has been lifted and FSB agents are leaving the scene, a TASS correspondent reported from the site. A team of the Investigative Committee has arrived.

The Fontanka newspaper’s website reported that the operation had been conducted starting from 10 a.m. on Wednesday in a 16-storey building. The report said the St. Petersburg counter-intelligence officers had initiated the detention of persons on the federal wanted list under the order of special forces in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic in the North Caucasus. The republic’s authorities have refused to comment on the report.

According to preliminary data, a special forces officer was wounded in the operation, but this has not been officially confirmed.