21 March 2008
Gadzhi Abashilov
Shooting
The director of the state-run radio and television company, Dagestan, the 58-year-old Gadzhi Abashilov, was killed by unidentified individuals in Makhachkala.
An ITAR-TASS correspondent has been told at Makhachkala's Interior Ministry on-duty unit that the murder happened at 1645 gmt near the Tashkent supermarket in the Uzbek-gorodok residential area. Abashilov was in a Hyundai Sonata car with his driver. Unidentified individuals opened fire at them from a submachine gun and fled the scene. Abashilov died of wounds on the spot. The wounded driver was taken to hospital.
An operative investigative brigade is working at the scene. Measures to identify and detain the culprits are being taken. Gadzhi Abashilov was a well-known journalist in the republic. He headed the republic's popular weekly Molodezh Dagestana [Dagestan's Youth] for 10 years.
He worked as director of the Dagestan radio and television company for over a year.
