NAZRAN, June 27 (RIA Novosti) - One of the people injured in the car bomb attack on Ingushetia's president died in hospital early on Saturday in the southern Russian republic, a hospital source told RIA Novosti.
Ramzan Yevkurov, a cousin of President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov who served as his driver, died of injuries sustained in Monday's attack on the president's motorcade near the city of Nazran.
"Ramzan Yevkurov was admitted to the hospital in extremely serious condition. Doctors have done their utmost, but they could not save him. He died today, during the night, in the hospital," the source said.
The president remains unconscious in a critical condition in a Moscow hospital, but is showing signs of improvement, his spokesman said on Saturday. He received serious head and internal injuries when his motorcade was hit by an explosion believed to have been detonated by a suicide bomber. He was airlifted to Moscow after undergoing surgery in Ingushetia.
One bodyguard was killed by the explosion, and the president’s brother Uvais was injured.
The assassination attempt was the latest in a series of high-profile killings this month in the North Caucasus republic, which borders Chechnya.
Also on Monday, a senior Ingush investigator had his leg ripped off after an explosive device believed to have been planted in his car went off, while a top judge and a former deputy prime minister were shot dead in separate incidents earlier this month.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who visited the Ingush leader in his Moscow hospital, called the blast a terrorist attack linked to Yevkoyev's efforts to end a spiral of violence and corruption in the republic.
"We need Yunus-bek Yevkurov," he said. "He is a real officer who has started to truly change the situation in Ingushetia."
The president visited nearby Daghestan, which also borders Chechnya, early in June after Interior Minister Adilgerei Magomedtagirov was shot dead.
He said on June 9 that Magomedtagirov's killing posed a challenge to the state and called for greater measures to curb the violence.
