Russia: Soldiers storm building to end siege

Hundreds of Russian police and soldiers stormed an apartment building in a southern Russian city today, ending a two-day stand-off with a group of suspected Islamic extremists.

Black smoke billowed from the building in Nalchik, the regional capital of the province of Kabardino-Balkariya, near Chechnya, as police and Interior Ministry troops fired automatic weapons and hurled grenades. Between three and eight gunmen, believed to be in the building, returned fire, wounding two police officers, according to the local branch of the Interior Ministry.