Russian special force soldiers during an anti-terrorist operation in Makhachkala, the capital of the Southern Russian republic of Dagestan on Jan. 20, 2014.

Russian security forces said on Saturday that they had killed seven suspected terrorists in an operation in Russia’s North Caucasus region of Dagestan which has been plagued by an Islamist insurgency.

Security forces launched a special operation after receiving information that men linked to criminal groups were in a building in the capital Makhatchkala, the National Anti-Terror Committee (NAK) said.

Russian news agencies quoted it as saying that “seven neutralized bandits were found” in the building.

The men belonged to a terrorist group behind attacks against the police and had been extorting money from local businesses to fund their terrorist activities, the statement said.

The Kremlin is fighting a deadly insurgency against Islamist rebels in the North Caucasus, with unrest particularly intense in the largely Muslim Dagestan.

Armed incidents and attacks against the authorities and security forces are particularly common in the restive, mountainous region neighboring Chechnya.

Moscow has fought two wars against separatists in Chechnya, and the violence subsequently spread throughout the predominantly Muslim region.

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