Militants attack Caucasus police and government buildings

Militants launched simultaneous attacks on police and government buildings in one of the main cities in Russia’s turbulent Caucasus region today, sparking battles involving heavy-arms fire and explosions that forced the evacuation of schools and left bodies in the streets.

The attacks in Nalchik, capital of the predominantly-Muslim republic of Kabardino-Balkariya, involved about 100 insurgents, a local Interior Ministry official said. About 10 militants were killed, he said.