The leader of an Islamic State “sleeper cell” and one of its group have been killed in a shoot-out with police, Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said.
The committee said in a statement on Saturday that the gun battle took place late on Friday night in the Stavropol region, 750 miles south of Moscow.
Stavropol is adjacent to several majority-Muslim republics, including Chechnya where Islamic separatists fought an all-out war with Russian forces.
The committee said the shooting broke out when police tried to stop a car and its occupants opened fire.
It says the officers found bomb-making components in the car and later discovered IS literature at one of the suspects’ residences.
