Moscow: Suspected armed militants simultaneously attacked several strategic points in Russia's North Caucasus region of Kabardino-Balkaria on Friday, killing no one, news agencies reported.
Using a grenade launcher, rebels took aim at the regional headquarters of the federal security services, the FSB, set off an explosion at a hotel and opened fire on two police checkpoints in the provincial capital Nalchik, state-run Itar-TASS said, citing a law enforcement source.
Interfax news agency said four traffic police points had also been fired upon.
The attacks are the latest blow to Kremlin efforts to contain a swelling Islamist insurgency in its mainly Muslim North Caucasus, a decade after federal forces threw separatists out of power in the second separatist war in Chechnya.
The attacks started at 8 pm local time (1700 GMT), Itar-TASS said, adding that up to 12 militants had been injured when law enforcement officers fought against them.
Violence in Kabardino-Balkaria has increased over the last year, leading analysts to say the insurgency is expanding beyond its usual centres of violence. Rebels killed three Moscow tourists on their way to ski on Mount Elbrus in Kabardino-Balkaria a week ago.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, February 26, 2011, 13:36