NALCHIK, Russia. Jan 17 (Interfax) - The counterterrorism operation regime that was introduced in a town in Russia's North Caucasus on Wednesday morning as a group of militants was besieged in an apartment was lifted in the evening, said the Operations Committee for the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria.
A law enforcement source told Interfax that three militants were believed to have been killed as the five-story building in Tyrnyauz in Kabardino-Balkaria where they were holed up in one of the apartments was being stormed by security forces.
Through talks with the militants, officials "established that, besides the bandits, those inside the apartment include the concubine of bandits who were neutralized before and her two-year-old daughter. It has been possible to persuade the bandits to let the child out of the besieged building. Her mother refused to come out in spite of attempts to persuade her to do so," the Committee said in a statement made available to Interfax before special forces stormed the apartment.
A Kabardino-Balkarian law enforcement told Interfax that the militants had put up fierce resistance to the special forces that were trying to break into the apartment. The source said the security fighters were currently inside the apartment, and that this suggested that the militants were dead. However, there had been no confirmation, he said.