Two gunmen have shot dead a top regional official in Cherkessk, in Russia's troubled North Caucasus.
Russian news agencies said Ansar Tipuyev, Deputy Prime Minister of Karachayevo-Cherkessia, died when a hail of bullets struck his car.
Police launched a manhunt after the gunmen fled the scene. The motive for the attack was not clear.
The republic lies west of war-torn Chechnya and North Ossetia, which suffered the Beslan school siege.
Mr Tipuyev, 52, was previously Karachayevo-Cherkessia's first deputy interior minister. He had been deputy prime minister since September 2003.
Russian media say the republic has been hit by a string of attacks on law enforcement officials in recent months.
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