Russia: Rebels and police killed in n. Caucasus

(Reuters) - Russian police said at least five insurgents and two policemen had been killed on Tuesday in an operation involving helicopter gunships and mortars in the volatile north Caucasus region.

"According to preliminary information, two police officers were killed and at least five of the rebels," said an Interior Ministry spokesman in the North Caucasus province of Dagestan.

Russian television showed footage of helicopters and heavy guns firing at a snow-covered mountainside, though it was not clear what they were targeting.

There was no confirmation of the attack from rebel sources.

Moscow is trying to put down an insurgency that has spread from Russia's separatist Chechnya region to other parts of the poor, mainly Muslim north Caucasus.