Official gunned down in Caucasus

MAKHACHKALA, Russia, March 4 (UPI) -- A tax service official was assassinated Friday in Dagestan, a North Caucasus republic, Russian authorities said.

Zalkipri Sheikhov, deputy director of the Federal Tax Service in the republic, was shot by unidentified gunmen while in a car in the capital, Makhachkala, an Interior Ministry source told ITAR-Tass. The attack occurred around 9:30 a.m. Moscow time.

Investigators were working at the scene.