MOSCOW – Up to a dozen militants have staged a daring attack on the capital of a southern Russian republic popular with downhill skiers and budget tourists, news reports said on Saturday. The overnight attack on Kabardino-Balkaria came a week after three Moscow tourists were gunned down in the area while travelling to the Elbrus mountain resort, which is one of Russia’s most popular winter tourist destinations.
No one was reported killed in Friday night’s strike on the republic’s capital Nalchik, which witnessed grenades tossed at a local Federal Security Service (FSB) building and police posts come under repeated machine gun fire. But the incident prompted a late night telephone conversation between President Dmitry Medvedev and FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov, the Kremlin said. Highlighting the Kremlin’s concern over the latest incident, news reports said that Medvedev’s North Caucasus envoy Alexander Khloponin had taken personal charge of the investigation.
