Russian authorities say two anti-terrorism officers have been killed in Ingushetia and a Muslim spiritual leader who worked against Wahhabism was killed in a nearby region.
Much of the rising violence in Russia's Caucasus republics is connected to insurgents apparently inspired by Chechnya's separatists.
Ingush Interior Ministry spokeswoman Madina Khadzhiyeva said the two officers were killed by gunfire while traveling on the region's main highway at midday Sunday.
Karachayevo-Cherkessiya's Interior Ministry said the deputy head of the region's Muslim spiritual authority, Islam Bostanov, was shot early Sunday. The ministry said the killing is believed connected to his work to eradicate Wahhabism, the fundamentalist Muslim creed that Russian officials blame for inspiring Caucasus militants.
According to officials, a Muslim religious leader and two anti-terrorism officers were killed in the Ingushetia region of Russia on Sunday in two separate gun attacks.

Ingush Interior Ministry spokesman Madina Khadzhiyeva said that the officers were killed by gunfire while driving along a highway in the region at around noon on Sunday.

 a spokesperson said.

The RIA news agency reports that searches are ongoing to apprehend the attackers.

Meanwhile, the Karachayevo-Cherkessiya Interior Ministry reported that Ismail Bostanov, a leading Muslim cleric, was was gunned down on the same day, in a separate attack.

The Ministry said it believes the attack was carried out by adherents of Wahhabism, a fundamentalist branch of Islam, a group whose influence Bostanov had attempted to reduce.