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02 Feb 05 21:59 |
Gunmen in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan have shot dead a senior policeman, local officials have said.
Maj Gen Magomed Omarov, a deputy interior minister in the republic, died along with three bodyguards as he drove home from work on Wednesday evening.
Omarov survived a roadside bomb attack in May 2003, local media reported.
Dagestan, which borders on Chechnya, is an ethnically diverse Muslim region with a history of violence both from rebel groups and criminal gangs.
The attack happened at around 2100 local time (1800 GMT) near the centre of the region's capital, Makhachkala, ministry spokesman Abdul Musayev said.
Omarov's vehicle and a second car carrying bodyguards were strafed with bullets by unknown assailants.
Six gunmen and four policemen were killed in fighting in the region last month in what the authorities described as the prevention of an attack similar to the Beslan school siege.