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Rebels Killed In Daghestan As N. Caucasus Bomb Attacks Kill Four


MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Police have killed four rebels in heavy fighting in Russia's Daghestan region and a suicide bomber wounded three policemen in neighboring Chechnya as militants pressed a campaign against Kremlin rule.

One day earlier, on September 11, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the third region currently suffering insurrection -- Ingushetia -- killing one and wounding at least five.

A series of suicide bombings and armed attacks on security forces in the mainly Muslim regions of Chechnya, where Russia has fought two separatist wars, Ingushetia and Daghestan have shattered a few years of relative calm in the North Caucasus.

Russian security forces say they have completed a military operation in Daghestan's main city of Makhachkala, killing four people suspected of complicity in the murder of senior member of the local prosecutor-general's office, Interfax news agency reported.

In Chechnya's capital, Grozny, a suicide bomber blew himself up when police tried to arrest him, Interfax said. Two of three policemen wounded were in grave condition.

Growing turbulence in the North Caucasus has become a major headache for the Kremlin, which is worried violence could spill over into other parts of Russia -- a vast country spanning 11 time zones, which is home to some 20 million Muslims and dozens of nationalities.

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