MOSCOW — Russian prosecutors say four people suspected of killing a top Muslim cleric and wounding another in Tatarstan province have been detained.
Valiulla Yakupov, the deputy to the province’s chief mufti, was gunned down Thursday in the regional capital of Kazan. Minutes later, chief mufti Ildus Faizov suffered leg wounds after an explosive device ripped through his car.
Both clerics were known to be critics of the radical Islamist groups that have mushroomed in recent years in this predominantly Muslim Volga River province of 4 million people. Faizov has also been criticized by Tatarstan media for allegedly profiting from tours he organized for Muslim pilgrims.
The Investigative Committee said Friday that one of the suspects owned a company that organized hajj pilgrimages, and another one heads a religious institution in Tatarstan.
