MOSCOW, Oct. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- A group of militants are holding a number of people hostage in the building of Police Station No. 3 near the southern Russian city of Nalchik, Russian news media reported on Thursday.

    The militants have ensconced themselves on the ground floor of the police station building on Kabardinskaya Street on the outskirts of Nalchik, the capital city of the Kabardian-Balkar Republic.

    "Militants have managed temporarily to secure their hold on theground floor of the four-storey building. Police officers on the first floor have fought back the militants' attack, Dmitry Kozak, presidential plenipotentiary representative in the Southern Federal District, was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

    The authorities have brough in personnel reinforcements and military hardware to fight the militants holed up in the police station building.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a complete blockade of Nalchik.

    "The president has ordered us to keep every militant within Nalchik and to eliminate any armed person resisting detention," First Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Chekalin said after a meeting with Putin.

    Early on Thursday, about 150 militants launched attacks at several facilities, including the buildings of the Interior Ministry and the FSB department, throughout the city.

    Behind the attacks stood the Jamaat group of Wahhabi. "We have information that taking part in the attack were both local Wahhabis and outsiders, including those from Chechnya. Some 50 militants were killed as police fought back the attack on government bodies in Nalchik and in shootouts in the streets. Somemilitants were captured alive," President of Kabardino-Balkariya Arsen Kanokov told Itar-Tass. Enditem