Russia kills 49 Islamist militants in North Caucasus

Russian security forces have killed 49 Islamist militants and captured 30 others in a series of coordinated raids in the strife-ridden North Caucasus region, the country's top anti-terrorism agency claimed on Sunday.

Russian security forces have been fighting Muslim gunmen in the region more than a decade ago Photo: AP

At least nine leaders of the insurgency – which is being waged across the region in an attempt to set up an Islamic caliphate – were said to have been killed and a bomb-making factory was discovered.

The National Anti-terrorism Committee (NAK) did not say over what period the raids were carried out in a statement released to Russian news agencies.

"A series of coordinated measures allowed for the suppression of the activity of a number of odious leaders, members of bandit groups and accomplices and allowed for a significant disruption of the bandits' supply system," the statement said.

If the figures are true, they are a reminder of the ongoing vitality of the insurgency on Russia's southern perimeter, which grew out of separatists' battles for the independence of Chechnya in the 1990s and early 2000s.

NAK said that among other strikes it had "neutralised" four leaders of the insurgency in the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkariya who were allegedly responsible for killing a judge, two Federal Security Service operatives and numerous policemen.

More than 90 insurgent camps or bases were destroyed and 26 arms caches were discovered across the North Caucasus, the agency claimed.

Thirty improvised explosive devices, 100kg of explosives, 109 weapons, 530 mines, shells and grenades and 19,000 units of ammunition were confiscated.

Russian security forces have been fighting Muslim gunmen in the region since full scale-scale battles between the army and separatists ceased more than a decade ago. The insurgents are thought to number less than a 1,000 men but have launched devastating terrorist attacks on the Russian heartland.

In 2010, two "Black Widow" suicide bombers from Dagestan killed 40 people in twin attacks on the Moscow metro. Another 37 people died when a bomber from Ingushetia struck the city's Domodedovo airport last year.

The Kremlin began a programme of economic support for the region in an attempt to cut off recruitment to the extremists, but human rights groups say security forces still torture and kidnap suspects, forcing young people into joining the insurgency. There has also been increasing tension between the militants and local Sufi Muslims.

In a report on the conflict published last week, the International Crisis Group concluded: "To succeed in conflict resolution, Russia needs to design and implement a long-term comprehensive approach joining ethnic policies, intra-confessional dialogue, institution building and reintegration of ex-fighters."