Five killed in clashes near Chechen border

MAKHACHKALA, Russia, June 3 (Reuters) Three suspected Chechen rebels and two policemen were killed in clashes in Russia's southern province of Dagestan near the border with Chechnya, officials said today.

Russia has fought two wars against separatist rebels in its Muslim Chechnya region since 1994 and the fighting has spilled over into neighbouring Dagestan and Ingushetia.Dagestan, a mountainous region, has a mix of several dozen ethnic groups.

The officials said the clashes occurred when police searched for a rebel hideout yesterday in a forest between the villages of Solnechnoye and Nuradilovo in the Khasavyurt area, which borders Chechnya and has a large Chechen community.

''Two police were killed, one wounded. Three fighters were also killed,'' said Anzhela Martirosova, spokeswoman for the regional Interior Ministry. The clashes lasted for more than five hours.

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