One policeman killed, five wounded in shootout with KB militants

MOSCOW, February 24 (Itar-Tass) - One special task force police
officer was killed and five servicemen were wounded in a special operation against militants in highland Kabardino-Balkaria. Also, on Tuesday night, a Federal Security Colonel was wounded, law-enforcement bodies in the North Caucasus Federal District (SKFO) told Itar-Tass.
"Fighting continued throughout the night," a high-placed police
officer said, "thermal imaging devices were used to track the militants."
He did not rule out that federal forces were confronting not one gang,
but several, numbering five to eight gunman each.
Speaking about the casualties on the part of federal forces, the
Interior Ministry representative said the special task force police
officer was killed and his five colleagues were wounded when the militants detected and shelled a recon group. The militants fired from a height and had an advantage.
Mortars and aviation will be used at the targets in the mountains, he
said.
Law-enforcement bodies said "there is no precise information as to
whether the militants sustained losses. If some of them were killed, the bodies have been taken away."
An armed group numbering up to seven gunmen opened fire at
law-enforcement personnel on a countryside road linking the Baksan and
Chegem Gorges near the highland village of Bylym, Elbrus district, at
around 17:00, Moscow time, on Tuesday.
National Antiterrorist Committee spokesman Nikolai Sintsov confirmed
that the group of militants had been detected. They refused to surrender and opened fire. "Three militants were killed in the shootout," he said.
The regional department of the Investigation Committee opened a
criminal case over attempted murder of law-enforcement personnel and
illegal turnover of weapons. A group of investigators went to the scene.
"The arrival of the group of investigators implies that the operation
is finished," an SK official said.