MOSCOW, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- Government troops killed 11 suspected militants during fighting in the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia, police said Friday.
The fighting broke out Thursday in Ingushetia's Sunzha region between a militant group and forces from the Federal Security Service and the Interior Ministry forces, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.
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"(Federal Security Service) officers and Interior Ministry operatives and troops clashed with an approximate 15-man ... militant group during a special operation in the forested mountainous area," a police official said.
RIA Novosti said violence linked to separatists and criminal groups have plagued Ingushetia and the neighboring North Caucasus regions in Chechnya and Dagestan.
