Police, Armed Men In Shoot-Out In Southern Russian Republic

13 October 2005 -- Security forces and police are engaged in a shoot-out with armed men in Nalchik, the regional capital of Russia's southern republic of Kabardino-Balkaria.
Details are still sketchy, but news agencies report intense shooting was heard in the city.

Interfax says armed men started simultaneous attacks against several buildings, including the regional Interior Ministry headquarters and the Federal Security Service (FSB) headquarters.

ITAR-TASS reported that children were being evacuated from a school near the police headquarters.

The reports had no details about the numbers of attackers.

Some news agencies, including AP and RIA-Novosti, quoted unidentified Interior Ministry officials as saying that three militants were killed. A policeman was reportedly wounded.

Kabardino-Balkaria, along with other southern Russian regions, has seen a rise in violence targeting police and security forces, some of it linked to the conflict in Chechnya.

(Interfax/ITAR-TASS/RIA-Novosti/Reuters/AP/AFP)