MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian security forces on Friday (Oct 7) killed six militants in the republic of Ingushetia, including one fighter from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) who had been planning terrorist attacks, the National Anti-Terrorist Committee (NAK) said.

Special forces of the FSB security police laid siege to a private house in Ingushetia's capital Nazran, NAK said in a statement. The FSB officers persuaded them to free a child kept in the house, after which the rebels opened fire. Four militants were killed in the shoot-out.

Another two rebels were killed in a special operation conducted in a rural area outside Nazran, NAK said.

Those killed included a local resident who had fought in Syria and had returned to Ingushetia to resume "terrorist activity in the republic", NAK said, calling the man "an Islamic State emissary", referring to ISIS.

Moscow has fought two wars with separatists in the neighbouring Caucasus region of Chechnya. But its mainly Muslim North Caucasus remains volatile as widespread unemployment and corruption push some young people to embrace radical Islam.