Two assassinated in Daghestan

MAKHACHKALA, Russia, June 6 (UPI) -- A police officer was killed and a high-ranking government official assassinated in the Russian Republic of Daghestan in separate incidents, authorities said.

The officer died when he went to use a toilet that had been rigged with a bomb near his post in the capital city of Makhachkala, RIA Novosti reported Saturday.

Several hours earlier, Daghestan Interior Minister Adilgerei Magomedtagirov was killed Friday in Makhachkala by a sniper, Itar-TASS reported.

An unidentified gunman killed Magomedtagirov and seriously wounded five others shortly before the wedding of the daughter of Abdulzhapar Magomedov, head of the Interior Ministry's tax crimes department. Magomedov was among the wounded.

Daghestan has seen violence from Islamic separatists since the 1990s. While Russian remains the official language, just under 5 percent of Daghestan's population is Russian. Daghestan's largest ethnic groups are Avar, Dargin, Kumyk and Lezgin.