Police in Russia"s south killed two suspected militants early Thursday in a counterterrorism operation launched in response to a suicide blast that took the lives of six officers, AP reported. An area on the outskirts of Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, has been in lockdown since Wednesday"s suicide car bombing at a police station as authorities hunted for the masterminds and their accomplices. Authorities early Thursday gunned down two suspected insurgents who had barricaded themselves inside a house, according to Dagestan police spokesman Mark Tolchinsky. An hours-long shootout _ during which the militants hurled grenades at police _ ended when police stormed the building, Tolchinsky said. Two police were wounded in the crossfire, Tolchinsky said. The suicide car bomber hit a police station on Wednesday at a time when 150 officers were lined up outside on roll call. City police chief Col. Shamil Guseinov said the six officers who died had prevented a far greater catastrophe by blocking the bombers entry into the compound.
