Russian police have laid siege to an apartment block in the country's turbulent south, saying militants fighting for the independence of Chechnya are holed up inside, Russian media report. Police were talking with the militants in the centre of the Caucasus city of Nalchik in the Kabardino-Balkariya region, about 150km west of Chechnya, Interfax news agency said on Saturday. "We are talking about members of illegal armed formations which took part in different terror acts and military actions on the territory of Chechnya," Interfax quoted Kabardino-Balkariya Prosecutor General Yuri Ketov as saying.Itar-Tass news agency said the house was surrounded by about 100 police and armoured vehicles. "We are not talking about storming the apartment block," the agency quoted an Interior Ministry official as saying. In earlier raids yesterday, police detained three suspects and seized guns, grenades and "extremist literature", an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said. In late January, police stormed another apartment block in Nalchik and killed seven suspected militants inside. Nalchik lies in the foothills of Mount Elbrus, Europe's highest mountain, and the rugged terrain provides a wealth of hiding places within a few hours' drive from Chechnya, where Russian troops have been fighting rebels for a decade.