MOSCOW, June 12./ITAR-TASS/. During a special operation in Kabardino-Balkaria, security forces have eliminated three militants and found a laboratory to produce explosive devices, information centre of the National Anti-Terror Committee said on Thursday.

Early in the morning on Thursday, the security and police forces found a group of armed people in the Svetlovodskoyev village. The militants opened fire at the special divisions’ military. “Two officers were wounded,” the information centre said.

The security forces and the police killed three militants.

“The early identification has shown that those are wanted Artur Margushev, his relative Rustam Margushev and Marat Tembotov,” the source said.

The killed were involved in several crimes, including attempt on lives of law enforcers, murders of civilians, extortion of money from businesses. For example, on January 8 the group killed on one day six civilians in the Stavropol territory.

In the shelter, where the bandits had been hiding, the security forces and the police found a laboratory to produce explosive devices. Besides, they confiscated an automatic gun, two pistols, a grenade and a lot of ammunition.