Shootouts kills 11 in Russia's Muslim Dagestan

Seven police and four rebels were killed in shootouts on Thursday in Russia's Dagestan region in the North Caucasus, police said, where the Kremlin is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency.

Seven traffic policemen were gunned down by suspected militants in Dagestan's capital Makhachkala on the Caspian Sea, a source in the police force told Reuters, adding that four rebels were also killed in gunfire. (Reuters)