MAKHACHKALA, Russia, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Russian special forces killed two rebels in Dagestan on Monday, a local interior ministry spokesman said, the third operation against insurgents within a week in the south Russian region.

The two rebels were holed up in a flat in the regional capital, Makhachkala, and refused to surrender when surrounded by police, forcing special forces to storm the flat, the spokesman said.

"Two militants were killed," he said.

Russian forces are fighting Islamist militants in the north Caucasus who want to set up an independent Islamic state in the region.

Russian forces and Islamist militants have fought two wars in Chechnya since 1994, scarring the north Caucasus region and killing thousands of people.

Violence has spilt over into the neighbouring republics of Dagestan and Ingushetia, some of Russia's poorest regions.

Last week Russian forces killed two rebels hiding in an apartment and a few days later they killed another six rebels on the border with Chechnya. (Writing by Moscow newsroom; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)

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