Three militants killed in gun battle

SECURITY forces stormed an apartment building in southern Russia yesterday, killing three suspected Islamic militants who had barricaded themselves inside, law enforcement officials said.

A fierce gun battle broke out early yesterday, said an officer in the Interior Ministry department in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkariya, where the one-day stand-off came to an end. Security forces used grenade launchers to lob canisters of tear gas into the building before entering, he said.

The officers broke down a metal door to the second-floor apartment but retreated due to a high concentration of gas as well as smoke from a fire that had broken out.