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Senior Police Officials Axed After Gunfight

A police chief in the Krasnodar region was fired Tuesday along with five colleagues for starting a fight in which a civilian was wounded by a stray airgun bullet.

Vladimir Vinyevsky, Krasnodar's top cop, fired the Tuapse district's police chief, two of his senior colleagues and three high-ranking traffic police officers for "discrediting the honor of the police," regional police said in a statement on their official website.

The firings follow news reports that a group of Tuapse police officers assaulted each other late on Nov. 4, the National Unity Day public holiday, in the town center.

Investigators said in a statement Monday that the officers first quarreled on the phone and then agreed to meet to settle their dispute, bringing along friends for support.

In the ensuing brawl, one of the police officers wounded a civilian with a bullet from an airgun, investigators said, adding that the civilian was later hospitalized.

Investigators will run a further check into the incident, the statement said.

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