Another Muslim priest killed in Russia's Dagestan

In Derbent, Dagestan, unidentified perpetrators killed the imam of a local mosque and his relatives. The attackers killed priest Kalimulla Ibragimov, his father and brother.

The attack was carried out at about 6:30 a.m. in "Airport" micro-district. The attackers fired their automatic guns at the Toyota vehicle, in which the men were staying. They died from wounds on the spot, official spokespeople for the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation said.

One of the victims was 49-year-old imam of one of the city mosques, Kalimulla Ibragimov. Two others were his relatives - the father and elder brother, NTV said. The police added that the men were going to the mosque for morning prayers.

"The incident is not the first one of the kind. Attacks against the clergy and religious figures have become a practice that lasts for years, unfortunately. So far, the mechanism to protect these people has not been invented," the Director of the Center for Islamic Studies of the North Caucasus, Ruslan Gireiev, told Pravda.Ru.

"No one knows which way the wind is blowing. They usually blame separatists for such crimes. This means that one doesn't need any investigation. This has been going on for years. No such crime has been solved," said the expert.

In Dagestan, attacks on the clergy occur frequently. On September 15^th, the imam of the mosque of the village of Kadar was killed in the Buinaksk region of Dagestan. Two attackers broke into the house of the priest, shot him dead and escaped.