Russian Ingush Republic’s leader attacked - report

The head of the Russian Republic of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, has been attacked on his way to a national holiday, Russian media report. Yevkurov's press service denies any assassination attempt.

The gunman opened fire on Yevkurov’s bodyguards when they asked him to move aside and let the leader’s cortege pass, Lifenews writes. Akhmed Nalgiyev was trying to drive into the village, but all the roads were blocked. He then left his car and started remonstrating in the road. Yevkurov’s bodyguard tried to calm the man, but Nalgiyev fired a shot at him in return. “One of the leader’s bodyguards, Sulanbek Shadiev, was shot in the leg. The bullet split the bone,” representatives of the republic’s law enforcement authorities told Lifenews. “Nalgiyev was immediately neutralized. He was shot in the leg as well,” he added. Both wounded men are now in the city hospital. The head of the Republic of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, was not injured.“The information concerning the shooting attack against Yevkurov, the leader of the Republic of Ingushetia, is not true,” stated the head of the republic’s press service.“There was no shooting attack or assassination attempt. Such reports are a provocation.”According to the press service there was an incident near the village of Surhahi earlier in the evening. Policemen stopped a car to search it, but the driver, reluctant to obey the orders, shot one of the policemen in the leg. He was then wounded by a return shot.“Both the policeman and the driver were wounded, but their lives are not in danger,” said a representative of the press service.In 2009 Yevkurov was seriously injured in an assassination attempt. He was attacked in his motorcade in the city of Nazran on 22 June, 2009. In the incident, a car filled with explosives rammed the leader’s convoy. One of the escorting policemen died on the spot and Yevkurov's driver and his cousin Ramzan died a few days later in hospital.