Police battle militants in Russia's North Caucasus

2009-07-02 08:54:02 -

NAZRAN, Russia (AP) - Officials say security forces are battling militants in Russia's troubled region of Ingushetia and at least one officer has been killed.
Ingush Interior Ministry officials say two police officers were wounded in the violence, which broke out before dawn Thursday after a group of five gunmen holed up in a village house. One of the officers died later of his wounds in a hospital.
At least two of the gunmen in the house were killed.
Meanwhile, in another North Caucasus region, Dagestan, a security agency sapper died after a bomb he was trying to defuse on a railroad track exploded.
Violence in Russia's long-troubled North Caucasus has grown markedly in recent months, blamed on criminal feuds, ethnic clashes and spillover fighting from Chechnya.