Five men have been gunned down in a Dagestani forest in an attack apparently carried out by local insurgents, news reports said Sunday.
The five men were reported missing Friday when they failed to return from a hunting trip in the surroundings of the Khtun village in the Suleiman-Stalsky region of Dagestan, the TASS news agency reported Sunday, citing an unidentified local law enforcement official.
That same evening, three of the hunters were found dead with their hands tied and gunshot wounds to the head, the official said.
Two more bodies were then found close by with bullet wounds to the head and chest, the report said.
A local terrorist group that is active in southern Dagestan, where police have been battling a simmering Islamic militant insurgency for years, is suspected of carrying out the slaying, Russian News Service reported Sunday.
A possible motive for the killings is revenge: The hunters had reportedly cooperated with Dagestani law enforcement, the report said.