Russian Interior Ministry soldiers take up a position at the outskirts of Nalchik, southern Russia Thursday, Oct. 13, 2005 in this image taken from television.(Photo: Xinhua/Reuters)

Related:	Militants hold hostages in Southern Russian city
	Souhtern Russian city sealed off to prevent escape of militant

 
    BEIJING, Oct. 14 -- Russian security forces said on Friday they had saved a group of hostages and killed their Chechen captors who held them overnight in Nalchik, capital city of Kabardino-Balkaria in Russia's North Caucasus, following a huge rebel raid that killed dozens.

    Militants attacked at least nine police and security buildings on Thursday in Nalchik, witnesses and the authorities said.

    "All the militants were killed and all the hostages freed. There are some things still left to be done but practically speaking the operation is over," police spokeswoman Marina Kyasova told Reuters.

¡¡  Russian officials said at least 85 people had been killed, most of them insurgents, in the clashes.

    The armed clashes broke out at around 9:00 a.m. local time (0500GMT), and guerrillas fired at the Interior Ministry, several district police stations and the Federal Security Service department, Gennady Gubin, the republic's prime minister, was quoted by the Interfax as saying.

    Armored vehicles and a heavy presence of Russian troops set up checkpoints. The city, which was almost fully under the authorities' control by late afternoon, fell mostly quiet at night.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin is closely following the latest developments of the incident.

    "The president has ordered us to keep every militant within Nalchik and to eliminate any armed person resisting detention," said First Deputy Interior Minister Aleksandr Chekalin. "The order of the president will be fulfilled."

    The Nalchik ambulance center using all the available 31 cars reported "numerous victims" among city residents. A health care official said the attack left 20 civilians dead, according to the Interfax.

    A group of investigators from the southern federal district's department of the Prosecutor General's Office are arriving in the city to lead the probe.

    Meanwhile, the neighboring Ingushetia beefed up security and closed the administrative border with Kabardino-Balkaria.

    Nalchik which means "horseshoe" in the Kabardin and Balkar languages extends to a wooded highland area which secret services fear may complicate the search for the militants. Enditem