Russian forces kill 7 suspected militants after Dagestan bombing

Russian security forces released footage on Saturday allegedly showing a shootout between security forces and militants in the volatile Russian region of Dagestan.

According to security forces, seven gunmen were killed in the gun battle on Saturday, after militants barricaded themselves inside a home in the village of Semender in Makhachkala's suburbs.

The authenticity of the footage nor the information provided by security forces has not been verified.

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According to Russian security officials the gunmen were "possibly" involved with a recent attack in the provincial capital, Makhachkala.

On Friday, a car bomb wounded nine people, including two police officers, after unidentified attackers first fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a restaurant, according to a regional police spokeswoman

No one was hurt, but when police arrived at the scene, a bomb placed in a car parked nearby went off.

"During the urgent special investigation activities we detected the gunmen who were possibly involved in yesterday's attack in which they used a grenade launcher to explode one of the entertaining centres (restaurant) in the capital of Dagestan, Makhachkala," said Dmitry Pavlov, spokesman for the national anti-terrorist committee.

"The owner (of the restaurant), according to the Interior Ministry, refused to pay kickbacks to gunmen. Security forces were hot on the trail (of the gunmen). They found out the location of these gunmen who are members of the so called the Makhachkala terrorist group," he added.

Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim republic in the North Caucasus region, has been the epicentre of a simmering conflict between a growing Islamic insurgency and Russian security forces.

A top rebel leader in the North Caucasus has called on his followers to attack the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, next month, and Moscow has vowed to crack down on insurgency before the games.