A member of Al-Qaeda has been killed by police, along with another militant, in Russia's Republic of Dagestan in the North Caucasus.
Officials say that police officers killed a man known as Doctor Muhammad, a native of Algeria, who was a known al-Qaeda coordinator in the region.
Another security source in Dagestan said the Al-Qaeda militant held French citizenship.
Regional department of Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB) relates that Doctor Muhammad arrived in the North Caucasus in 1999, via Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge, together with notorious international terrorist and Chechen Al-Qaeda emir Abu Hafs, who was later eliminated by Russian special services.
At the time he was busy organizing a terrorist network in Chechnya as a member of the international terrorist Hattab's group, until the latter was also killed by Russia’s Special Forces.
The Algerian was responsible for infiltrations of militants into Dagestan and neighboring Ingushetia from Georgia and Azerbaijan, organizing local gangs and ensuring funding.
Police have yet to identify the second man.
The militants were suspected of committing murders and attacks on police.
The two were hiding in a house in the village of Mutsalaul in the Dagestani Khasavyurt district, a press representative of the Federal Security Service told the Interfax agency. Two submachine guns, a pistol, ammunition and communications devices have since been found at the site.