Russia says Islamist rebel leader killed

A senior Islamist rebel has been killed in a gun battle in the southwestern Russian town of Nazran. State-run TV broadcast video of the raid. The footage was provided by the country's security service FSB.

Rebel leader Alexander Tikhomirov renamed himself Said Buryatsky after his native East Siberian Buryatia region. He trained for jihad in Egypt.

Buryatsky claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack in the North Caucasus in four years last August when a suicide bomber killed at least 20 and injured 138 at a police headquarters in the region. Special forces also reportedly seized weapons and explosives allegedly prepared for a terror attack.