MOSCOW: Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee says four suspected militants have been killed in the restive Caucasus region of Dagestan.

The men were shot dead late Thursday after they allegedly fired on law-enforcement officers who tried to stop their vehicle in the center of the town of Khasavyurt, according to a statement from the National Anti-Terrorist Committee.

One of the dead men was identified as Marat Makhmudov.

Police found weapons, including grenades, in the car in which the men were traveling, the National Anti-Terrorist Committee said.

Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim province on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, has become the epicenter of an Islamist insurgency following two separatist wars in neighboring Chechnya. Militants launch frequent attacks on police and other authorities.