Security forces have killed three suspected militants in Russia's volatile North Caucasus province of Daghestan.
The National Antiterrorist Committee said the deaths occurred in a gunbattle in the Caspian Sea coastal city of Derbent.
It said several gunmen had fortified themselves in a five-story apartment building and opened fire after security forces demanded their surrender.
Authorities said the three men planned a terrorist attack in the region and then planned to travel to Syria to fight as jihadists.
Law enforcement officials did not report any casualties among security forces.
The building was evacuated.
Daghestan is beset by violence linked to an Islamist insurgency rooted in two post-Soviet separatist wars in neighboring Chechnya as well as organized crime, business turf wars, political disputes, and clan rivalry.
