NAZRAN, August 31 (RIA Novosti) - The murder of a Russian-speaking teacher's family in the North Caucasus Republic of Ingushetia, could be a possible revenge killing following the death of a militant, an aide to the republic's prosecutor general said.
Islam Belokiyev a suspected militant field commander was killed during a police operation August 30, in the Nazran district, the largest city in Ingushetia.
On August 31 at around 01:00 a.m. unknown assailants broke into a house in the town of Karabulak, in Ingushetia, and shot Vera Draganchuk's husband and two sons, 20 and 24 years respectively, with an automatic rifle.
"The woman was hiding and the murderers could not find her," the source said adding that Vera also has a daughter but that her fate was unknown.
No suspects have been arrested to date and a criminal case has been launched. Russian Interior Ministry officials have arrived in Nazran to assist in the investigation.
This is the latest crime in a series of similar incidents in the republic neighboring troubled Chechnya, which saw two Moscow-led military campaigns against separatist regimes in the 1990s- early 2000s.
In the early hours of July 16, ethnic Russian teacher Lyudmila Terekhina, 55, and her son and daughter were shot in their house in the town of Ordzhonikidzevskaya. Policemen said possible motives were robbery and nationalistic sentiments. At their funeral two days later a tripwire bomb went off leaving 11 people injured.
The region is inhabited by a predominantly non-Slavic Muslim population.
