Religious Activist Shot Dead In Daghestan


KIZLYAR, Russia -- A religious and civil activist has been shot dead in Russia's volatile North Caucasus republic of Daghestan.

Unknown attackers shot Abdulla Gappaev near his house in the city of Kizlyar overnight on September 15-16, according to Bilal Magomedov, an activist of the Union of Just party.

Magomedov told reporters that Gappaev succumbed to his wounds on the way to hospital.

Magomedov added that Gappaev was a religious person who supported his party and was not a radical Muslim.

Daghestan, an ethnically mixed, mostly Muslim region between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea, has become the most violence-plagued province in Russia's volatile North Caucasus in recent years.

Militants attack police, moderate Muslims, and local officials almost daily, saying they are fighting to create an Islamic state in southern Russia.

With reporting by yuga.ru