Attacks Reported On Daghestani Official, Police

29 September 2005 -- Authorities in Russia's southern Republic of Daghestan said today that attackers fired on the vehicle of a senior regional official and, in a separate incident, on a police patrol car.
Attacks on government officials are a frequent occurrence in the North Caucasus republic, with dozens of such attacks reported this year.

The head of the administration in Botlikh, Ruslan Aliyev, was wounded in the neck when attackers fired on his vehicle late yesterday.

Two policemen on patrol were wounded when gunmen opened fire on their car in Khasavyurt early today.

Police are still searching for the attackers in both cases.

Some residents of the town of Botlikh recently launched a protest against the Russian Defense Ministry's plans to build a base there for a new mountain rifle brigade. The planned base is one of two announced earlier this summer by Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov that are intended to compensate for the closure of the two remaining Russian bases in Georgia.

(AP/ITAR-TASS)