ST. PETERSBURG -- A hardline nationalist leader who once sent Russian volunteers to fight for the Serbian cause in Bosnia was shot and severely wounded Tuesday by unidentified gunmen.


Yury Belyayev, a former detective and onetime member of the city council who heads the hardline National Republican Party, was attacked near his home as he left for work. Two bodyguards were killed by rifle fire, while Belyayev received multiple wounds.


St. Petersburg police declined to comment on the case.


Vladimir Bishenkov, an aide to Belyayev, blamed the assassination attempt on a struggle within the party, but refused to elaborate. Belyayev was recently elected party leader, replacing Nikolai Lysenko, a member of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament.


Belyayev, viewed by some as a leading figure in Russia's increasingly active neo-fascist movement, once led a group of party members to Bosnia to fight on the side of the Bosnian Serbs.


He has also sent teams of volunteers to fight in different hot spots across the former Soviet Union.


Belyayev had established a private security agency. Such agencies are allowed to possess guns legally.


Last year, Belyayev was detained briefly by the security services on charges of terrorism, but released for lack of evidence.