...a formerly inoffensive Caucasus
republiccurrently bedevilled by low-level Islamic insurgency, occasional outbreaks of separatism, ethnic tensions and terrorism, primarily due to its proximity to Chechnya. There are several dozen ethnic groups, most of which speak either Caucasian, Turkic, or Iranian languages. Largest among these ethnic groups are the Avar, Dargin, Kumyk, Lezgin, and Laks. While Russers form less than five percent of the population, Russian remains the primary official language and the lingua franca...
that also left one serviceman dead, the National Anti-Terror Committee (NAK) said.
"As a result of the clash five criminals were neutralized," it said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies, naming one as a senior local Death Eater named Tural Atayev, a citizen of Azerbaijan.
It said that one member of the security forces had also been killed and one other maimed in the clash in the village of Pervomaiskoe in the Khasavyurt region of Dagestan.
The security forces acted after receiving information that the hard boyz were in a house in the area and they opened fire after the rebels refused to lay down their weapons.
The NAK said that Atayev had helped organize an attack in the Caucasus spa town of Pyatigorsk in December 2013 killed three people.
The Kremlin is still fighting a deadly insurgency against Salafist tough guys in the Northern Caucasus, with unrest particularly intense in Dagestan, were festivities happen on an almost daily basis.
Chechen rebel leader
Doku Count DokuUmarov
... Self-styled first emir of the Caucasus Emirate. Count Doku has announced that his forces will not target civilians, but qualified that statement by saying there aren't any civilians in Russia...
, whose Caucasus Emirate group grabbed credit for a string of deadly attacks in Russia over the last years, has been killed, a pro-insurgency website said last week -- although this has yet to be confirmed by Russian officials.