MOSCOW, January 15. /ITAR-TASS/. Two gunmen have been killed in Dagestan's Khasavyurt district, including the mastermind behind the recent terrorist attack in Pyatigorsk," the information center of the National Antiterrorist Committee (NAK) told Itar-Tass.

The republic's operations headquarters ordered special units of the Federal Security Service and the Interior Ministry to block a house in the village of Karlanyurt, Khasavyurt district.

"The gunmen put up fierce resistance. Taking advantage of nighttime, they tried to break through the police cordon, using automatic weapons and grenades. The breakthrough attempt was foiled thanks to selfless and courageous actions by special task force police. Three special task force unit fighters were killed and another five were wounded. There were no civilian casualties in this operation," NAK said.

The militants have been identified as Rustam Dagirov, 28, a native of Karlanyurt, a longtime supplier of foodstuffs and medicines to militants, who also provided to them his home for recreation and treatment. According to NAK's information, Dagirov's home was repeatedly used as a workshop to make explosive devices for subsequent use in terrorist attacks across the Khasavyurt district.

The second gunman was identified as Marat Idrisov, 32, leader of the Khasavyurt gang. "In January 2013, he went into hiding, joined a criminal group operating in Dagestan's Khasavyurt district and became its leader. He has been wanted by federal police since November 2013," NAK said.

"Idrisov was one of the masterminds behind the car bomb explosion near the road police building in Pyatigorsk on December 27, 2013, in which three people were killed and another three were injured," a NAK official said.

On top of that, Idrisov was involved in attempted murders of law-enforcement personnel, cleric and public figures in the Khasavyurt districts. In December 2012, he shot and killed a cleric in the village of Endirei. In November 2013, he fired in the same village on a car carrying a religious school teacher, and in December 2013, he shot at a car carrying a district police officer and investigator in Khasavyurt.

Idrisov repeatedly extorted large sums of money from local business people, threatening them with physical violence.