Russian police laid siege to an apartment block in the country's turbulent south on Saturday, saying Islamic militants were holed up inside, Russian media reported. The police were in talks with the militants in the centre of the Caucasus city of Nalchik in the Kabardino-Balkariya republic neighbouring strifetorn Chechnya, Interfax news agency said. "We are talking about members of illegal armed formations which took part in different terror acts and military actions on the territory of Chechnya," Interfax quoted Kabardino-Balkariya Prosecutor General Yuri Ketov as saying.

In earlier raids on Saturday police detained three suspects and seized guns, grenades and "extremist literature", an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said.

In late January police stormed another apartment block in Nalchik and killed seven suspected militants inside. Russia's campaign against Islamic militants has intensified since the Beslan school siege in September, in which more than 330 hostages died, many of them children. Local officials in Nalchik say they have a list of 500 suspected rebels.

Nalchik lies in the foothills of Mount Elbrus and the rugged terrain provides a wealth of hiding places within a few hours' drive from Chechnya, where Russian troops have been fighting rebels for a decade. Fugitive separatist head Aslan Maskhadov has announced a month-long cease-fire from the start of February to mark his willingness to enter peace talks.

Copyright Reuters, 2005