MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. Three militants, including a group’s leader, were killed in the North Caucasus’ Kabardino-Balkaria on Thursday, the National Anti-Terror Committee told TASS.

“The headquarters in Kabardino-Balkaria received information this night that a group of militants had sheltered in a private house in the Baksan district,” the source said.

Head of the regional branch of Russia’s FSB (federal security service) ordered beginning of an anti-terror operation and a security alert regime. The civilians were evacuated, and the law enforcement forces blocked the area.

“At 5:40 a.m. the three militants attempted a breakthrough, and were killed,” the source said.

The headquarters report two of the militants were on the federal wanted list. One of the militants was Andzor Guchapshev, born 1986, who was head of the underground’s “North-Eastern sector” in Kabardino-Balkaria.

In 2014, law enforcement forces have eliminated 21 militants in the republic, including those from the Caucasus Emirate terrorist organization; and six militants were arrested. Many units of armoury and doses of drugs were confiscated. A major act of terror was prevented at the Caucasus federal highway.