Russian authorities say security forces have killed at least four militants in the restive North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria.
Law enforcement officials told Russian media the militants were killed in an exchange of fire early on December 11 at a home in the provincial capital, Nalchik.
Authorities said the security operation was continuing, and television and radio stations warned Nalchik residents to remain indoors.
The mostly Muslim provinces of the North Caucasus are plagued by attacks and fighting between security forces and militants in an Islamist insurgency stemming from two post-Soviet separatist wars in Chechnya, east of Kabardino-Balkaria.
The operation in Nalchik follows a shootout late on December 10 in Daghestan, further to the east on the Caspian Sea, in which Russian authorities said a militant leader was killed.