Arukhov was killed in a blast near house 31 on Aliyev street in Dagestan's capital Makhachkala on Friday.
His bodyguard Sherif Minafov, 26, was badly wounded and died unconscious on the way to hospital. Four children were also wounded in the blast and subsequently hospitalized, the republic's Interior Ministry of Dagestan reported.
The blast party destroyed the staircases up to the third floor. Rescuers from the Emergencies Ministry evacuated over 60 residents of house 31 using a fire-escape. They were accommodated in the Leningrad Hotel in downtown Makhachkala.
The prosecutor's office of Dagestan launched criminal proceedings on three articles of the Russian Criminal Code, including an attempt on a statesman's life and terrorism.
This is the second murder of Dagestan's national policy minister of over the last two years. In 2003, his predecessor, Magomedsalikh Gusayev was killed in a car blast.
Zagir Arukhov had three daughters and a son. He graduated from the department of journalism of Moscow State University, worked on Dagestan's television and in the Ministry for the National Policy, Information and External Relations. After Gusayev's death in the summer of 2003 Arukhov was appointed minister. Zagir Arukhov headed the television section at the department of journalism of Dagestan's State University.
