Moscow - A reporter critical of Islam was shot and mortally
wounded in Russia's restive Dagestan province, the Interfax new agency
reported Wednesday.
An unknown person or persons fired at least two bullets into
Abdullah Alishaev, a local television journalist, as he was driving
through the Dagestan provincial capital Malachkala Tuesday evening.
The bullets struck him in the head and shoulder. Doctors at the
city hospital treated the injuries, but Alishaev died from his wounds.
Alishaev, sometimes going by the name Telman Alishaev, was a well-
known media personality in Dagestan for his appearances as moderator
of the TV-Chirkey and 'World to Your Home' television shows, Ekho
Moskvy television reported.
Both programmes aired on Russian state-controlled television.
Alishaev had been a long-time and outspoken opponent of Islamic
religious fundamentalism, known in the region as 'Wahabbism.'
Police were searching for perpetrators, and suspected the killers
had attacked Alishaev 'on political grounds.'
The murder came on the heels of the Sunday killing of Magomed
Yevloyev, an independent news website owner in the neighbouring
Russian province Ingushetia.
Russian law enforcers had arrested Yevolaev and were taking him to
a station in the Ingushetia capital Nazran for questioning, when a
police officer shot Yevolaev in the temple.
Russian police spokesmen said their initial investigations seemed
to show Yevolaev's death was an accident. International media
protection groups were quick to accuse the Nazran police of killing
Yevolaev intentionally.
Yevolaev's web site had made public information critical of the
Russian government, especially of its tight military control of the
neighbouring province Chechnya.
Journalism in the Caucasus region is a particularly dangerous
profession, with four reporters dying in August alone during the
Russo-Georgian war over South Ossetia.
Russian reporter Anna Politkovskaya, an award-winning journalist
for years critical of the Kremlin's virtual occupation of Chechnya,
was shot in her Moscow apartment building in October 2006.
Her death remains unsolved. Russian officials and media rights
activists alike have said a Chechen death squad was most likely
responsible for Politkovskaya's death.
Russian officials have suggested her killing was linked to
organized crime, while media rights activists have argued it was pro-
Russian Chechens retaliating for Politkovskaya's anti-Russia
reporting.
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