Russian authorities say five suspected militants and the commander of an elite police unit were killed in gunfights overnight in the North Caucasus province of Daghestan.
The National Antiterrorist Committee (NAK) said Rustam Radzhabov, the leader of a local insurgent group in the city of Kaspiisk was among those killed.
State-run RIA news agency cited NAK as saying that Radzhabov was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police and Federal Security Service (FSB) officers in Kaspiisk late on June 14.
A police officer, the commander of a special unit, was also injured and later died of his wounds.
In a separate incident, security forces killed four suspected militants in an exchange of gunfire south of Kaspiisk near the village of Achisu overnight.
compiled from Reuters reports