Four militants killed in St Petersburg

Four militants have been killed by Russian special forces in St. Petersburg as part of an anti-terrorism act.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) conducts an operation against wanted members of illegal armed units from the North Caucasus, in St. Petersburg Source: AAP

Russian special forces troops have killed four militants in a shoot-out at a flat in St. Petersburg in a counter-terrorism operation targeting gang leaders from Russia's volatile North Caucasus region.

Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC) said on Wednesday that three of the four men killed had been senior figures in the criminal underworld responsible for a string of terror attacks and attempted assassinations of police officers.

"Special forces from Russia's FSB security service surrounded the bandits in a flat they were hiding in," the NAC said in a statement.

"When asked to lay down their weapons and give up, they opened fire."

Automatic weapons, ammunition, and several improvised explosive devices had been found in the flat, it said.

In a separate incident in the Moscow region, police said two men who had attacked a roadside police sentry point had been killed.

The attackers were originally from Central Asia and had carried out the attack wielding axes, it said.