MAKHACHKALA, August 11 (RIA Novosti) - The body of a journalist was found on Tuesday in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, a police spokesman told RIA Novosti.
Malik Akhmedilov, who wrote for the local Avar-language Istina (Truth) paper, was found dead in his car on the outskirts of the republic's capital, Makhachkala.
The spokesman said Akhmedilov "was found dead on Tuesday near the village of Palmira on the outskirts of Makhachkala. The journalist was found in a Russian-made vehicle with gunshot wounds to his abdomen."
The Dagestan Republic Information Agency reported that Akhmedilov was found near a banquet hall in his car with gunshot wounds to the head.
Over the last few years, a number of journalists have been murdered in Dagestan. In September 2008, unidentified assailants shot television commentator Telman Aleshayev, who died the next day in hospital.
On March 21, 2008, two Dagestani journalists were murdered. Ilyas Shurpayev, a TV correspondent for Russia's state television Channel 1, was found murdered in his rental apartment. A few hours later, assailants opened fire on a car driven by the head of Dagestan's state television and radio company GRRK, Gadji Abashilov.
In 2005, Zagid Varisov, a columnist for Dagestan's Novoe Delo (New Deal) newspaper was murdered in a drive-by shooting.
The International Federation of Journalists said in a report published in June that 313 Russian journalists had been killed in the country since 1993. It stated that 124 had died as a direct result of their work.
