A Russian television journalistwho was once held in rebel captivity in Russia's troubledChechnya region was gunned down in Moscow on Friday, Interfaxnews agency quoted a source in the city police as saying.
It said an unidentified man fired two shots at AlikhanGuliyev, who worked for Russia's TVTs channel, as the reporterwas entering his apartment in northern Moscow.
A Moscow police source confirmed a murder had taken place on Moscow's Startovaya Street but said he could not confirm whether the victim was the TVTs reporter.
"Yes, there was a murder," the source told Reuters. "We haveyet to identify him and investigation is underway."
TVTs, a local Moscow channel, was unavailable for comment.
Several journalists are killed each year in Russia, manyinvestigating corruption, while murders of businessmen andpolitical figures have become commonplace since the fall ofSoviet rule in 1991 sparked cut-throat competition for controlof Russia's massive resources and industry.
Interfax said Guliyev specialised in news coverage from theNorthern Caucasus region, plagued by violence and corruption.Russian forces have been battling rebels in mainly MuslimChechnya on and off for the past decade.
In one of the most prominent cases in recent years, aninvestigative journalist with a Moscow tabloid daily who wasprobing corruption in Russia's armed forces was blown up by abooby-trapped briefcase in 1994.