Separatists commander killed in Chechnya

Security forces in Russia's North Caucasus Republic of Chechnya have killed a militant commander accused of attempting to kill the province's leader.

Chechnya police announced the death of Said-Emi Khizriev on Friday and noted that the separatists commander had sought to assassinate the republic's President Ramzan Kadyrov.

"In a private residence in Michurin village in Grozny a so called emir of Gudermes [Said-Emi] Khizriev was surrounded. Police made an attempt to arrest him, but he put up armed resistance and was killed with when fire was returned," RIA Novosti quoted a police statement as saying.

Khizriev was also accused of conspiring to blow local gas stations in southern Russia.

Recently there has been a spike in militancy in the North Caucasus Russian Republics of Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia, where security and political authorities have been targeted in conflicts between pro-independence Chechens and the local governments.