Police killed five suspected militants in a shootout in southern Dagestan, the Russian republic`s Interior Ministry official said on Tuesday.

The official said the skirmish occurred in a wooded area near the village of Agachaul of the Buinaksk district in the early hours of Tuesday. "Preliminary reports said up to five militants were killed. No police casualties were reported," he said.

He said police and troops were combing the area, and added that the number of casualties and other details of the skirmish would be clarified.

Dagestan and other regions in Russia`s volatile North Caucasus have seen a rise in violence in recent months, with attacks on police, troops and authorities and skirmishes being reported almost daily.

Attacks are blamed on militants infiltrating from or linked to separatists in Chechnya, which saw two brutal wars in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The Kremlin officially ended its campaign to fight rebels and terrorists in Chechnya in April.
sections: Society, Accidents