Jeremy Page, Moscow Correspondent of The Times, says that today's violence in the predominantly Muslim republic of Kabardino-Balkaria shows how the conflict in Chechnya is spilling across its borders.

"The people of the Caucasus have come to live with these spasms of violence as the war in Chechnya goes on and on. But the violence in neighbouring republics seem to be getting more frequent and more violent, which is certainly alarming for the Kremlin.

"There are reports that the attacks came in response to the arrest of a group of religious extremists in the region and was possibly an attempt to free them. Since many of the targets were police and security services, that makes sense.

"The number of reported guerrillas involved is quite surprising. If they can get up to 150 heavily-armed people to launch such an attack at short notice, it says a lot about how well organised the rebels are and how vulnerable their targets.

"Violence in the north Caucasus is the result of a combination of factors. The war in Chechnya has radicalised a large part of the population there and attracted a limited number of foreign fighters whose stated goal is now to start a war across the entire region.

"But there is also widespread resentment against local corruption, massively high unemployment and Moscow's policies in the region.

"The Kremlin says that it is going to crack down further, but the whole region is already heavily militarised and there's a limit to what more it can do.

"In many ways, the opposite approach is needed. A lot of critics of the Kremlin have said that it is becoming obvious that these heavy-handed tactics are simply not working and the only way to resolve the situation is to enter into negotiation with the rebels.

"As always with these things, there will be a lot of hand-wringing over the Kremlin's North Caucasus policy, but very little real change."

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