MOSCOW, November 7 (Itar-Tass) — A special operation against two militants blocked in a five-storey apartment house is underway in Dagestan, a representative of the information centre of the National Antiterrorist Committee told Itar-Tass.

The militants, a woman and her two children were blocked in a house in the town of Khasavyurt. The woman is the wife of one of the militants. Police talked her into letting them evacuate her children. The militants and the woman, identified by her first name Zamira, refused to surrender.

The militants belong to the so-called Khasavyurt gang. They are Ramazan Nurlayev, b.1981, a native of the village of Mutsalaul, and Vadim Kadymov, nicknamed Khamza, b.1985.

Nurlayev is brother of Tagi Nurlayev, head of the Khasavyurt gang destroyed in the summer of 2012. "He was trained at Khattab's camps in Chechnya, studied demolition techniques, and fought against federal troops as a member of the gang lead by Nasib Isakov," the NAK said.

Kadymov is a citizen of Kazakhstan and active member of the Khasavyurt gang.

Taking part in the negotiations with Zamira was her former husband. The tenants of the apartment house blocked by police have been evacuated.