Russia says militant leader killed in Dagestan

Russian authorities today said one of the insurgents killed in a day-long gun and tank fight in Dagestan was a top militant suspected of being the mastermind of one of Russia’s deadliest terrorist attacks.

Rappani Khalilov was killed in yesterday’s 12-hour battle that broke out in a Dagestani village after police forces surrounded a house, said Mark Tolchinsky, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry’s Dagestan division.