Tax police official killed in Dagestan

Tue Dec 7, 2010

An unidentified armed man has murdered a tax police official in the Republic of Dagestan as violence continues unabated in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region.

The gunman walked into a café in Khasavyurt city, situated 1531 kilometers (951 miles) southeast of Moscow, late on Sunday and opened fire on the police official, the RIA Novosti news agency reported on Monday.

The unnamed tax police official later succumbed to his injuries as he was being transported to a local hospital for treatment.

The attacker escaped the scene in a vehicle and his whereabouts are unknown. Police have launched an investigation to establish the motive behind the incident.

Sporadic attacks and militant clashes are common in Russia's North Caucasus republics, especially Chechnya, Dagestan, and Ingushetia.

Russia has been fighting militants in the North Caucasus since the mid 1990s.

Violence first broke out in Chechnya in 1994, when 250,000 people were forced to flee to neighboring territories because of a war between Chechen separatists and the Russian army.

After a short-lived and unstable peace from 1996 to 1999, war resumed following actions blamed on Chechen militant groups. An estimated 100,000 people have been killed in the conflict and many more displaced.

Widespread unemployment, especially among young adults, is a major problem that has given a boost to the separatist militants' recruitment efforts.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/154276.html.