Reports say suspected Islamic insurgents have killed four Russian Interior Ministry troops in Chechnya.
Russian news agencies reported on February 15 that the fighting broke out in the Nozhai-Yurt district, near the republic's eastern border with Daghestan.
There was no immediate information about the death toll among militants.
Chechnya is currently ruled by Ramzan Kadyrov, a former rebel turned Moscow supporter whose crackdown on militants has been accompanied by widespread allegations of rights abuses.
Chechnya and other North Caucasus republics have been plagued by violence blamed on small bands of Islamist insurgents or criminals.
Compiled from agency reports