MOSCOW: Russian security forces killed a suspected militant while storming a house in Dagestan, Russian news agencies reported on Saturday.

The raid, in which a member of the security forces was also killed, took place in Novy Khushet, a village near Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan in the volatile North Caucausus region.

News agencies earlier reported that security forces had surrounded a house in the village where two suspected militants were holed up.

"In the course of a special operation, according to preliminary information, one militant was liquidated," a law enforcement source told Interfax.

"It was impossible to escape loss from the side of the security services. A member of the SRRG (Special Rapid Response Group) died, and another was wounded."

Violent clashes between security forces and Islamic insurgents are a frequent occurrence in Dagestan. Militants in the North Caucasus say they are fighting for an Islamic state in the strip of provinces along Russia's southern border.

Rights activists say the insurgency is also driven by poverty and anger at what they say are the heavy-handed tactics of the Russian security forces.