Seven gunmen and a member of the security forces died in an anti-terrorist operation in Russia's southern Republic of Dagestan on Saturday, July 14 the republic's regional headquarters said, according to RIA Novosti.

"Five bodies were taken from the scene of the gun battle and there is also information about two more dead. One member of the security forces was also killed and one injured," a security source told RIA Novosti.

The group of gunmen were surrounded overnight on Friday in the village of Utamysh, he said. A special counter-terrorist regime was declared in the Kayakentsky District, the regional headquarters said.