NALCHIK, November 2 (RIA Novosti) – The counter-terrorism operation regime was imposed in the city of Baksan in Russia’s North Caucasus Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria after a police officer was killed.
A 24-year-old officer of the local police station was shot dead late on Thursday by unknown gunmen. The attackers fled.
“In order to prevent militant attacks, maintain public safety, search and detain militants, the head of the republic’s Federal Security Service department ordered a counter-terrorism operation and imposed the counter-terrorism operation regime in the city of Baksan,” the republic’s law-enforcers said.
The counter-terrorism operation regime includes enhanced public security, identity check of all people in the area, the possibility of blocking cell phone communications and other measures.
Over a decade after the end of a war against Islamist separatists in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, Russian security forces continue to fight militants across the volatile region.
The Islamist insurgency, once confined largely to Chechnya, has spread in recent years across the North Caucasus. Attacks on security forces, police and civilians are also reported regularly in the neighboring republics of Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria.
Russian Security Council Chief Nikolai Patrushev said on Wednesday the danger of ethnic extremism persists in the region, especially among young people. He named extremism, corruption and unemployment among the region’s most pressing problems.