Gunmen attack Moscow Dy. Mayor

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, DEC. 19. A senior Moscow official wounded in a gunmen attack in the capital on Tuesday was in hospital in critical condition, the Interfax news agency said.

Mr. Yosef Ordzhonikidze, a Deputy Mayor of Moscow, was wounded in the abdomen and leg, and his driver killed, when two masked gunmen opened fire on their car with an automatic weapon. The attack took place only metres from the City Hall in the centre of Moscow during morning rush hour.

It was the most daring attack in Moscow for years. Police said it looked like a contract killing attack. Two masked gunmen wielding Kalashnikov weapons sprayed the official's metal- plated car with armour-piercing bullets. Police found a Kalashnikov and a portable grenade-launcher which the assassins did not use.

The Mayor of Moscow, Mr. Yuri Luzhkov, blamed the attack on mafia, saying his deputy clearly crossed someone's path. Mr. Ordzhonikidze, who is responsible for Moscow's international economic ties, recently signed a $ 100-million deal with a U.K. engineering firm to build Russia's first Formula One circuit just outside the capital.

Mr. Luzhkov's administration was accused of corruption by Russia's Interior Ministry in September.

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Section  : International
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