12 militants and 7 Russian policemen were killed during a two day battle in Stavropol, just north of Chechnya.
This is one of the largest battles seen in outside of Chechnya for a while, and RIA Novosti says it came after Russian intelligence received a tip off that the men were planning to seize a school:
“The decision to eliminate terrorists was taken after the police received information about a planned terrorist attack involving a hostage-taking in a school in the Stavropol Territory,” Viktor Barnash said.
It’s hard to say, really, whether this is actually the case, or if it is just a post-battle justification by Russia’s embattled intelligence services. However, given the size of the militant group, the fact that they were clearly ready for a major battle, and that they were well outside of Chechnya, I wouldn’t discount it entirely.
The BBC has more on their origin:
Russian officials say the rebels belonged to a militant group called Shelkovskoy Jamaat, named after an area in northern Chechnya.