NAZRAN, Russia (Reuters) -- A senior official in the volatile Russian province of Ingushetia has been shot dead, police said, in the latest high-profile killing in the mainly Muslim North Caucasus.
The minister for sport in the regional administration, Ruslan Balayev, was shot dead in his car, a police source told Reuters.
Last month an assassination attempt left regional leader Yunus-Bek Yevkurov gravely wounded in hospital.
"The minister was shot near Nizhny-Achaluki and died of his wounds," the source said, referring to a village 20 kilometers north of Nazran, Ingushetia's largest city.
Ingushetia has overtaken its neighbor Chechnya as the main center of violence along Russia's turbulent southern flank.
On July 15, the body of prominent human rights activist Natalya Estemirova was found in Ingushetia hours after she was kidnapped in Chechnya.
Earlier this month nine Chechen policemen sent to help crush Ingushetia's insurgency were killed by rebels.
Analysts say Islamist insurgencies in the North Caucasus have been fuelled in recent months by new recruits bitter at economic hardship and heavy-handed antiterror tactics used by regional leaders.
In a separate incident on July 17, a policeman was shot dead in the Chechen capital Grozny, Interfax news agency reported, the latest in a daily stream of attacks.
Two killed in Ingushetia attack, minister alive: official
MOSCOW (AFP) -- Two people were killed in an attack on a car in Russia's turbulent Ingushetia region Friday, officials said, denying initial reports that a regional minister was among the dead.
Unidentified assailants opened fire at a Kia car in the village of Sredniye Achaluki in Ingushetia, the investigation committee of the Russian prosecutor general's office said in a statement.
“As a result, two people, who had been in the car, were taken to hospital where they subsequently died,” the statement said. Efforts were under way to identify the victims and the details of the crime, it added.
Earlier, security sources said Ruslan Balayev, the sports and tourism minister for Ingushetia, had died on the spot when his car was attacked in the early morning.
But an official identifying himself as Balayev denied the reports when contacted by telephone.
“The minister has been at work since 08:00 A.M.,” he said.
“I don't even know” what's happening, he said, referring to the reports of his death. Asked if he was alive and well, he said: “As you see.”
The investigation committee statement confirmed that the authorities had managed to establish that Balayev had not been in the car that came under attack.
Balayev told AFP that the confusion stemmed from the fact that “it was probably a ministry registered car.”
The incident follows a string of brazen attacks on officials, including an assassination bid last month that critically wounded the leader of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov.
On Wednesday, the body of a leading rights activist Natalya Estemirova was found in Ingushetia after she was abducted in neighboring Chechnya.
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