Chechen Terrorists Foiled

Ten die in North Caucasus clashes

Police have recovered five bodies from the debris of a house razed by a tank during a gun battle in the Russian southern region of Dagestan.

Officials say that the men killed in the regional capital, Makhachkala, were rebels who had planned an attack similar to the Beslan school siege.

One security officer died and two were injured in the Saturday night clash. There was also fighting in nearby Kaspiysk which left three policemen were and a terror suspect dead. At least one other rebel was captured by security forces during the battle which took place at the same time as the fighting in Makhachkala.

Chechen connection

The Makhachkala house was besieged for 15 hours by hundreds of police and special service troops, backed by tanks and helicopter gunships. Two more houses, where security forces believed rebels could have been hiding, were heavily damaged.

The authorities say the militants belonged to a group headed by Dagestani field commander Rasul Makasharipov who supports rebels in neighbouring Chechnya.