Police officers have killed three suspected militants in the Khasavyurt District of the Russian North Caucasus republic of Dagestan on the border with Chechnya, a law enforcement spokesman said, according to RIA Novosti.

“Three militants were killed when they opened fire on police officers who tried to stop their Priora car,” the spokesman said, adding that those killed were preliminarily identified as members of a local gang.

No law enforcer was injured.

Regional investigators confirmed the information. Two assault rifles, a handgun and a few grenades were seized at the site. An investigation is underway.

The Islamist insurgency, once confined largely to the republic of Chechnya, has spread across the North Caucasus in recent years. Attacks on security forces, police and civilians are reported regularly in the neighboring republics of Dagestan, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria.

Over a decade after the war against Islamist separatists in Chechnya ended, Russian security forces and police continue to fight militants in the volatile region.