Russian officials say two special forces officers and two suspected militants have been killed in a gunbattle in the country's volatile North Caucasus.

The National Counterterrorism Committee said that security forces, acting on a tip, on November 24 surrounded a house in Nazran, in the Ingushetia region, where the two suspects were hiding.

The suspects refused to surrender and opened fire on security forces, it said.

Both suspects and two officers of the Federal Security Service (FSB) were killed in the firefight.

The agency said the two suspects had been identified. It said they were "members of a gang that committed terrorism-related crimes in the North Caucasus."

Nazran is Ingushetia's largest city.

Violence is common in the North Caucasus, which includes the restive mostly Muslim-populated regions of Ingushetia, Chechnya, Daghestan, and Kabardino-Balkaria.

Based on reporting by AP, TASS, and Interfax