Moscow — The main suspect in the recent murder of a journalist has been killed by police inRussia's North Caucasus, a region plagued by violence stemming from a yearslong Islamic insurgency.
Zeitun Baziev — on Russia’s wanted list since 2010 on suspicion of several murders — was killed when he attempted to open fire on special forces who surrounded him in Nalchik, capital of the Kabardino-Balkaria province, police said Tuesday.
Baziev was a suspect in the December murder of Kazbek Gekkiev, a journalist with state broadcaster VGTRK. Police had earlier suggested that Gekkiev’s killing could have been related to his job.
Russia’s North Caucasus provinces have been plagued by violence since a low-level insurgency spilled over after war ended in neighboring Chechnya in 2005. Shootings, bombings and abductions occur almost daily.
