A leading Muslim cleric was shot dead in his car in southern Russia on Sunday, a state investigator said, in an attack another religious leader blamed on Islamist militants. Gunmen shot dead Ismail Bostanov, the second most senior Muslim cleric in Karachayevo-Cherkessia region, as his car arrived in the regional capital Cherkessk, investigator Vyacheslav Taranenko said.
Karachayevo-Cherkessia is one of the least violent of Russia's mainly Muslim North Caucasus regions and has largely escaped a recent surge in violence in nearby Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia.
A police officer and two of his brothers were shot dead in a separate attack in Ingushetia on Sunday, Interfax reported, citing a police spokesman.