Senior Dagestan official gunned down in Moscow

27 Sep, 2009 19:16 / Updated 15 years ago

A regional head from the Russian North Caucasian republic of Dagestan has been shot and killed in Moscow.

Police report that three gunmen shot Alimsultan Alkhamatov and his driver at about 8 pm, local time, and fled in a Mercedes auto, which was later found abandoned.

Alkhamatov, the head of the republic's Khasavyurt district, which borders on Chechnya, died shortly afterwards. The wounded driver is being treated at a Moscow hospital.

Police say they have detained one suspect, who is from Dagestan.

Shortly before the incident, the Deputy Chief of Dagestan's Criminal Investigation Department was gunned down inside the republic. His nephew, a policeman, was also killed.

Violence is currently on the rise in Russia's Caucasus republics.