MAKHACHKALA, Russia, April 1 (Reuters) - Gunmen have killed the deputy chief prosecutor of Dagestan, a southern Russian republic which borders Chechnya, the Dagestani Interior Ministry press office said on Sunday.

Fighting between competing criminal gangs and battles between federal forces and Islamic separatists is rife in Dagestan.

The Interior Ministry said the bodies of deputy prosecutor Abdu Basir Omarov and another man were found at a house outside the Dagestani capital Makhachkala in the early hours of Sunday.

They had both been shot and a Kalashnikov rifle and ammunition were found nearby.

Last month, gunmen shot a leading Dagestani businessman as he campaigned in a regional election, and in a separate attack three people died in an unsuccessful assassination attempt on the republic's interior minister.

AlertNet news is provided by