MOSCOW - An opposition leader from Russia's Ingushetia region was shot dead in his car on Sunday, Interfax news agency reported, in the latest sign of rising violence in the North Caucasus.
The opposition figure and local businessman, Maksharip Aushev, was driving near the town of Nalchik in the nearby region of Kabardino-Balkaria when his car was hit by gunfire, another opposition leader, Magomed Khazbiev, told Interfax.
Local officials later confirmed the attack, which took place on a main road running through the region.
Aushev was a strong critic of the region’s former president, Murat Zyazikov, but had good relations with Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, the Kremlin appointee who took over the position a year ago. Yevkurov was himself seriously injured in a June bomb blast.
Attacks in the North Caucasus regions under Moscow’s control have risen sharply this year.
Analysts say the attacks, blamed by the government on Muslim insurgents backed by foreign cash, threaten Moscow’s control over the volatile southern region, which is plagued by poverty and corruption.
The worst hit areas have been Dagestan, Ingushetia, and Chechnya where Russia has fought two wars against separatists since 1994.
