MOSCOW, June 5 (Reuters) - Four suspected rebels and a member of the Russian security forces were killed early on Friday in a shootout in Russia's turbulent southern region of Ingushetia, Interfax news agency reported.Ingushetia has overtaken its neighbour Chechnya as the epicentre of violence along Russia's turbulent southern flank, challenging the Kremlin's fragile rule and, security forces say, providing a foothold for global networks of Islamist militants.The battle took place near the village of Muzhichi, 14 kms (9 miles) from the border with Chechnya, after Russian forces engaged a group of 12 gunmen during a reconnaissance operation, Interfax quoted the source as saying.The incident brings to 26 the number of suspected rebels killed in operations in the border region between Ingushetia and neighbouring Chechnya since May 16, Interfax reported, citing the Interior Ministry.
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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