Asia-Pacific

Police officer killed in Russia's Dagestan

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-07-13 16:26

MOSCOW - A police officer was killed by unidentified assailants in Khasavyurt city in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan early Tuesday, local media reported.

Akhmet Gadzhiyev, deputy chief of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for Khasavyurt region, was shot in a car on a motorway at around 01:00 a.m. local time (2100 GMT Monday). He died of bullet wounds.

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The attackers fired from a wooded area and fled. Other three passengers in the car were wounded.

In Ingushetia, also a North Caucasus republic, a military motorcade was attacked on Monday in the regional capital of Nazran. Four servicemen and one civilian were injured.

The republic's law enforcement authorities said Tuesday that unidentified gunmen fired automatic weapons and bazookas at the motorcade from a wooded area. The joint motorcade of regional interior forces and Federal Security Services troops was on their way back from a special operation.

The assailants fled after the convoy fired back.

Violence is common in Russia's North Caucasus republics, especially Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia, with militants frequently targeting police and officials.