MAKHACHKALA, Daghestan -- Authorities in Daghestan have imposed a counterterrorist regime in two districts of the southern Russian republic, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.
The republican department of the Federal Security Service and Interior Ministry informed journalists that the counterterrorism campaign was introduced in the districts of Khasavyurt and of Kazbekovski, which borders Chechnya.
Local Interior Ministry troops and federal military units are reportedly engaged in fighting with a small group of rebels in a forest in Khasavyurt district.
Daghestan is generally regarded as one of the most volatile republics in Russia's North Caucasus.
In the first three months of 2009, 36 suspected militants and 10 police officers have been killed in five counterterrorism operations in Daghestan.