Police and security forces have sealed off parts of the southern Russian town of Nalchik where shooting erupted today amid a search for suspected militants.

SCORES of Islamic militants yesterday launched simultaneous attacks on police and government buildings in Nalchik in Russia’s turbulent Caucasus region, sparking battles that killed at least 63 people.

Police and security forces today battled gunmen in and around a school in Nalchik, the capital of the southern Russian region of Kabardino-Balkariya.