A prominent opposition activist in Russia"s southern province of Ingushetia was shot dead Sunday by unidentified gunmen in at least the third such killing in the volatile North Caucasus region in just over three months, AP reported. Maksharip Aushev died when several assailants sprayed his vehicle with automatic gunfire from a passing car. A woman traveling with him was badly wounded in the attack on a road in the neighboring province of Kabardino-Balkariya, police said. Aushev"s murder follows the killing in July of Natalya Estemirova, a prominent human rights activist who was found shot dead in Ingushetia after being kidnapped in Chechnya. And in August, Zarema Sadulayeva, a Chechen woman who helped injured children, and her husband were kidnapped and killed. «Sadly, the new killing ... clearly shows an atmosphere of impunity in the North Caucasus,» Tatyana Lokshina, deputy director of Human Rights Watch, said Sunday, according to the Interfax news agency. «Civil activities, human rights and opposition activities have virtually become a form of suicide.» Lokshina, who personally knew Aushev, said that he became involved in rights activities after his son and nephew were kidnapped in 2007. Aushev later got them released. «He started working in human rights in Ingushetia and tried to combat abductions. He was a very brave man,» Lokshina was quoted by Interfax as saying. Aushev had worked with Magomed Yevloyev, a journalist, lawyer and opposition activist who was detained and killed by police in August 2008. Police said at the time that Yevloyev was shot and killed after he tried to grab a weapon from one of the officers. Following Yevloyev"s killing, Aushev for some time took over his Web site, which was critical of regional authorities and reported on abuses, abductions and killings plaguing the southern province. Shortly after Yevloyev"s death, the Kremlin dismissed the deeply unpopular regional president, Murat Zyazikov, replacing him with Yunus-Bek Yevkurov. Yevkurov, a former military intelligence officer, has vowed to end abuses against civilians and quickly became popular in the region. Yevkurov pushed for investigation into Yevloyev"s killing, and a court ruled last November that his detention by police was illegal. Violence linked to Islamic militants has continued to plague the impoverished, mostly Muslim province. Yevkurov himself barely survived a suicide car bombing in June. «This heinous crime was intended to destabilize the region,» Yevkurov said in a statement. He praised Aushev and promised to do all he can to track down the killers. Russia"s Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika has taken the murder probe under his personal control, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. Opposition and officials in Ingushetia wouldn"t comment on possible reasons behind Aushev"s killing. Yulia Latynina, a commentator and author who has written extensively about the North Caucasus, told the Ekho Moskvy radio Sunday that Aushev could have been killed by people who were responsible for Yevloyev"s death and sought to hamper the investigation into his killing. Latynina said that some officers of the Federal Security Service, the main KGB successor agency, could have been interested in Aushev"s killing, but added that their involvement appeared less likely. Aushev said last month that unidentified agents had tried to abduct him last month when his vehicle was stopped for an ID check at a police checkpoint outside the provincial capital, but he managed to escape. He told Ekho Moskvy radio that the incident followed his meeting with top security officials in the region. --SPA
