Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Times
February 12, 2009
Pg. 15
BAKU -- The air force chief of Azerbaijan, an oil producing state in the volatile southern Caucasus region, was shot dead outside his home Wednesday.
Lt. Gen. Rail Rzayev was the most senior official to have been killed since a series of assassinations in the 1990s that were blamed by authorities on organized crime or attempts to undermine the government.
Police and defense officials in Azerbaijan, a mainly Muslim country where Russia and the United States vie for influence, said it was not immediately clear what the motives for Gen. Rzayev's killing were.
Nijmedin Sadykhov, head of the Azeri military general staff, told Azerbaijan's private Lider television that security cameras in the vicinity might help the investigation.
February 12, 2009
Pg. 15
BAKU -- The air force chief of Azerbaijan, an oil producing state in the volatile southern Caucasus region, was shot dead outside his home Wednesday.
Lt. Gen. Rail Rzayev was the most senior official to have been killed since a series of assassinations in the 1990s that were blamed by authorities on organized crime or attempts to undermine the government.
Police and defense officials in Azerbaijan, a mainly Muslim country where Russia and the United States vie for influence, said it was not immediately clear what the motives for Gen. Rzayev's killing were.
Nijmedin Sadykhov, head of the Azeri military general staff, told Azerbaijan's private Lider television that security cameras in the vicinity might help the investigation.