(Itar-Tass) - During the shootout policemen destroyed in downtown Nalchik an active member of illegal armed units Radik Bappinayev, 27, who put up armed resistance during the detention operation. He has been on the federal and international wanted list for several grave and heinous crimes, including a raid on Nalchik in October 2005, chief press officer of Kabardino-Balkarias Interior Ministry Marina Kyasova told Itar-Tass on Wednesday. One of notorious leaders of the Wahhabite underground criminal community in the republic was tracked down at about 23.00 Moscow time on Tuesday during the search operation upon getting the operative information, he emphasized. According to Kyasova, upon noticing the pursuit Bappinayev opened fire, and then hurled a grenade at the police patrol car with three policemen inside. Then he was trying to seize a car with three passengers driving by, but policemen returned fire and destroyed him. No civilians and policemen were injured, Kyasova indicated. A Makarov handgun, which had been stolen during an attack on the Nalchik Drug Control department in December 2004, five magazines to it, a grenade and a radio tuned on the police wave were found on the destroyed bandit.
Scores of Islamic militants launched simultaneous attacks on police and government buildings in this city in Russia's turbulent Caucasus region Thursday, sparking battles that killed at least 49 people. Chechen rebels claimed responsibility for the attacks, which forced the evacuation of schools and left corpses littering the streets of Nalchik, the capital of the republic of Kabardino-Balkariya. President Vladimir Putin ordered a total blockade of Nalchik, a city of 235,000, to prevent militants from slipping out, and he said armed resisters would be shot, according to Russian Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Chekalin. Military and police reinforcements were being sent to the city; a truckload of soldiers heading for Nalchik overturned, injuring 18 servicemen, a duty officer for regional road police said. 
All 10 suspected militants were killed, he said. Gunmen launched simultaneous attacks against three police stations, the city's airport and the regional headquarters of the Interior Ministry and Federal Security Service, police said. The attack at the airport was repelled, the facility was placed under military control and all flights were canceled, news reports said. The militants also attacked the regional headquarters of the Russian prison system, the Emergency Situation Ministry's press office said. Interfax said a border guards' office also came under attack. A teacher from School No. 5, who gave only his first name, Spartak, said children had been evacuated from the building, which is near a police station and an anti-terrorism office at the center of the attacks. Black smoke billowed from the building as panic-stricken parents searched for their children in the school yard. Windows and doors at the local Federal Security Service office were smashed. Snipers crouched on the building's roof, and masked soldiers were in the streets, where two armored personnel carriers were parked. A crowd of bystanders stood about 100 yards from the building, with no cordon keeping spectators away. In December, gunmen raided the Drug Control Agency branch in Nalchik, killing four employees, looting an arsenal and setting the office ablaze.