Up to 50 guerrillas have been killed in armed clashes with federal security forces in Nalchik, capital city of Kabardino-Balkaria in Russia's North Caucasus, where the situation is under control, the latest report of the Itar-Tass news agency said.

The critical situation in Nalchik is under the control of law-enforcement bodies and interior troops of Russia, Kabardino-Balkaria's prosecutor Yuri Ketov was quoted as saying.

Early on Thursday, about 150 militants launched attacks at several facilities, including the buildings of the Interior Ministry and the FSB department, throughout the city.

Behind the attacks stood the Jamaat group of Wahhabi. "We have information that taking part in the attack were both local Wahhabis and outsiders, including those from Chechnya. Some 50 militants were killed as police rebuffed the attack on government bodies in Nalchik and in shootouts in the streets. Some militants were captured alive," President of Kabardino-Balkariya Arsen Kanokov told Itar-Tass on Thursday.

Authorities brought in reinforcements and armored vehicles. Interior ministry troops sealed off the areas where the anti-terrorist operation is taking place, Ketov said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is also paying attention to the incident and receives rapid updates on the developments.

The armed clashes broke out at around 9:00 AM local time (05:00 GMT), and guerrillas fired at the Interior Ministry, several district police stations and the Federal Security Service department, Gennady Gubin, the republic's prime minister, was quoted by the Interfax as saying.

The Nalchik ambulance center using all the available 31 cars reported "numerous victims" among city residents. A health care official said the attack left 20 civilians dead, according to the Interfax.
 
A group of investigators from the southern federal district's department of the Prosecutor General's Office are arriving in the city to lead the probe.

Meanwhile, the neighboring Ingushetia beefed up security and closed the administrative border with Kabardino-Balkaria.

Nalchik which means "horseshoe" in the Kabardin and Balkar languages extends to a wooded highland area which secret services fear may complicate the search for the militants.

(Xinhua News Agency October 14, 2005)