Islamist rebels say they killed Russian mayor-site

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Islamist militants claimed responsibility on Thursday for killing a mayor in Russia's North Caucasus, an attack that prompted security services to warn that violence in the region could destabilise the entire country.

A sniper shot the mayor of Vladikavkaz, capital of the mainly Christian region of North Ossetia, on Wednesday as he left his home and climbed into his silver Mercedes car. He died later in hospital.

"The execution of the enemy of Allah was carried out by the amir of Kataib al-Khoul," a statement posted on the www.kavkazcenter.com Internet site.

The site, used as a mouthpiece for Islamist rebels in the North Caucasus, described the Kataib al-Khoul group as the local faction of Islamist rebel forces.

The group said it had killed the mayor because of his policies which insulted Islam and women.

Bomb attacks and assassinations have escalated this year across the North Caucasus and the murder came two weeks after a suspected bomb on a minibus killed 12 people in Vladikavkaz.

The head of Russia's domestic intelligence agency, Alexander Bortnikov, was quoted by RIA news agency as saying the attacks were an attempt to destabilise the country.

"Armed attacks by bandits on state officials and law enforcement workers in Ingushetia, Dagestan, Chechnya and the sharpening of the situation in region close to the zone of the Georgia-Ossetian conflict are... threats to Russian national security," said Bortnikov, head of the Federal Security Service.

In August, Russia fought a five-day war with Georgia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia which borders North Ossetia.