Top official shot dead in Russia’s south

12 August, 2009, 16:19

Security officials in Russia's Southern Republic of Ingushetia say the Construction Minister Ruslan Amerhanov has been shot dead in his office in the town of Magas.

According to the prosecutor’s office, two assassins wearing masks first fired a shot at the minister’s aide and then several shots at the minister himself. Ruslan Amerhanov died instantly and his aide was taken to hospital.

Ingushetia's Prosecutor Yuri Turygin said different motives for the killing are being considered. The main version is that the murder is connected to the minister’s official duties. The version of political assassination by underground militants, aimed at destabilizing the situation in the republic, is not excluded.

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This latest murder follows a string of assassination attempts on high-ranking officials in the Caucasus region.

On June 10, 2009, the deputy chairman of Ingushetia’s Supreme Court Aza Gazgireyeva was assassinated. Later, on June 22, Ingushetia’s President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov was wounded in a bomb attack. However, he later recovered in a Moscow clinic.