Russia kills top militants in Chechnya

Russian troops killed 12 militants, including two brothers who were top rebel leaders, during a two-day sweep in the North Caucasus region of Chechnya, police said on Thursday. "Twelve militants have been eliminated during a special operation in the mountains of the Chechen republic," the Moscow-based interior ministry said in a statement. Among those killed during the two-day skirmish in Chechnya's mountainous Vedensky district are Husein and Muslim Gakayev, who were wanted for organising "terror acts" and the murder of police and civilians, the interior ministry said. The elimination of the Gakayev brothers dealt a "most serious blow" to militants to Chechnya, the site of two separatist wars over the past 20 years, said Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. In remarks released by his office, Kadyrov said a militant who had agreed to lay down arms and cooperate with the authorities had confirmed the Gakayev brothers were dead. In the skirmish, one policeman was killed while another seven were wounded, the interior ministry said, adding the security sweep was continuing. In 2009, the Kremlin ended the controversial decade-long effective state of war in Chechnya, claiming that normalcy returned to the violent region. But the predominantly Muslim region of the North Caucasus sees near daily attacks that officials blame on militants seeking to establish an Islamic state across the Russian Caucasus. In another Caucasus region of Kabardino-Balkaria, authorities have killed one of two militants suspected of killing the head of a local college, investigators said on Thursday. Boris Zherukov, a top member of the ruling United Russia party, who headed its faction in the regional parliament, was killed in December. The suspected militant was killed on Sunday when he put up resistance to the authorities and was eliminated by return fire.