14-11-06
The director general of a Russian oil consultancy company has been killed in
an apparent contract killing in Moscow, officials say.
Zelimkhan Magomedov, 50, was shot twice in the head, prosecutors told.
Ms Magomedov was the head of the National Oil Institute Fund, which seeks to
develop small and medium-sized oil and gas producers. The killing was described
as a "contract hit" by officials.
"A criminal case has been opened over the contract hit," a representative of the
city prosecutor's office.
Ms Magomedov's murder is the latest in a series of apparent professional
killings in Moscow. In October, campaigning Russian journalist Anna
Politkovskaya was shot dead in the city, while in September, Andrei Kozlov, the
deputy chairman of Russia's central bank, was killed by gunmen.
The recent murders are reminiscent of a wave of assassinations which swept
through the city in the 1990s, targeting businessmen and bankers.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk