on-Don, April 29, SPA -- Four alleged militants and one policeman were killed in a shootout in a predominantly Muslim region of southern Russia on Friday, the Interior Ministry said. The shootout began after Police in Nalchik, capital of the Kabardino-Balkariya region, stopped a van to check the driver's documents. Three men then stepped out of a nearby garage and they and the van's driver opened fire on the officers, said Alexei Polyansky, spokesman for the southern Russian branch of the ministry. Two other policeman were wounded in the shooting. Polyansky said the van blew up during the shootout, and that some of the militants' bodies were badly burned.
