Moscow - Two Russian servicemen and two rebel fighters were killed in armed clashes overnight in Russia's strife-torn North Caucasus province of Chechnya, Interfax news agency reported Thursday.

Another six men from the local police force and Interior Ministry troops were injured in the battle.

The gunfight broke out just before midnight Wednesday as Russian servicemen stormed an apartment block where suspected rebels were hiding in the town of Argun.

"The rebels staged a fierce resistance to police and Interior Ministry forces for half an hour, which resulted in the house catching fire," a source at the regional military headquarters was quoted by Interfax as saying.

Chechnya, convulsed by two wars against Kremlin rule in the 1990s, has grown quieter in recent years under the strongarm presidency of Ramzan Kadyrov, a former rebel now loyal to Moscow.

But violence by separatists, some with links to militant Islamism, has spilled over into more frequent attacks in the neighboring regions of Dagestan, Ingushetia and North Ossetia in recent years. (dpa)