GROZNY. May 24 (Interfax) - A special operation in Chechnya's Shali district is over, Chechen Interior Minister Gen. Ruslan Alkhanov said.
"The operation ended by Sunday noon. Law enforcement officers and Internal Troops Yug ("South") battalion servicemen combed through the area where a clash with militants occurred last midnight," the minister told Interfax on Sunday.
Two militants have been eliminated, he said. "As a result of combing through the area it was found that there were no other militants in this square," he added.
"The slain militants, Ali and Askhab Yusupkhadzhiyevs, were wanted by federal authorities for their role in grave crimes. They were members of the gang of Muslim Gakayev, also featured on the federal wanted list," Alkhanov said.
None of the officers was hurt or killed during the operation, the minister said. The special operation was coordinated by Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov on the spot.
It was reported earlier that a group of militants was found near the village of Serzhen-Yurt in the Shali district in the early hours of Sunday. The operation against them was led by forces from the "R" division of the Terek squad of the North Caucasus Interior Ministry, as well as police officers and servicemen from the Internal Troops' Yug battalion.
"The militants resisted, two of them were killed during the skirmishes and have now been identified: they are Shali residents," Kadyrov told Interfax earlier.