Woman among 5 killed in operation in Dagestan

Among the five persons killed in a special operation in Derbent is a woman, a law-enforcement source in the city told Itar-Tass, citing the preliminary information. Members of the special law-enforcement unit were continuing to examine the house, in which the gunmen were blocked. Sappers were also examining the site to find out whether there were explosive devices, the source said. Among the killed persons was a woman, a wife of one of the gunmen, he said. The leader of the Derbent gang is also reported among the killed. The active phase of the operation is completed. A source at the National Antiterrorism Committee's Information Centre told Itar-Tass earlier that five militants were neutralized by a special force in fighting. According to the preliminary information, among the killed is the Derbent gang's leader Sherif Akhmedov, born in 1981. The gunmen in the group headed by Abu-Seif operated in the Derbent and Tabasaran districts and the city of Derbent. Akhmedov has been on a federal wanted list since 2011. He was the main blasting specialist among the gunmen, the NAC source said. According to the NAC Information Centre, the Russian Federal Security Service received information that a group of armed people from the so-called southern gang was in a private house in Derbent. At 07:55 Moscow time, the counterterrorist operation regime was imposed in the city after the house was blocked. Residents were evacuated from the nearby houses, a NAC source said. The active phase of the operation began after the gunmen were ordered to surrender, but they opened fire at law-enforcement officers from windows of the blocked house. Earlier, Dagestani police reported that the persons in the house supposedly were organizers of the terrorist attack in the village of Khuchni. The terrorist attack was committed near a police station in the Dagestani village of Khuchni on September 23. A car driven by a terrorist passed the police station, then turned and exploded, killing two people. There were policemen in the yard at the time.