Moscow  - Russian police in Siberia stormed a bank and killed an armed man who had taken five hostages there Friday, a police spokesman said.

"The operation was successful. The hostages are safe and sound. The criminal is dead," the Interfax news agency quoted a police spokesman from the town of Leninsk-Kuznetski as saying.

The suspect - armed with a handgun and a grenade - had taken hostage bank employees including a pregnant woman and another woman, and demanded ransom money and a jet by which to escape, Kemerovo governor Aman Tuleyev was quoted by the Vesti broadcaster as saying.

Neighbouring buildings were evacuated during the operation.