Tatarstan Muslim Board denies reports on mufti's death
KAZAN. July 19 (Interfax) - Tatarstan Muslim Board secretariat head Rishat Khamidullin has denied media reports alleging that Mufti Ildus Faizov died of injuries he suffered in a bomb attack earlier on Thursday.
"Ildus Khazrat [Faizov] is alive and is currently at the Central Clinical Hospital, and doctors estimate his health state as moderately serious. We are all praying for his health. Tatarstan Health Minister Airat Farrakhov is keeping the situation under his control, and the best doctors in the republic have been engaged," Khamidullin told Interfax.
A decision has yet to be made on the time and venue of the burial of Valiulla Yakupov, the head of the Tatarstan Muslim Board educational department, who was shot and killed earlier on Thursday, he said.
"It is especially sad to us that these two crimes were committed in the run-up to Ramadan, the holy Muslim month of forgiving sins and spiritual purification [starting on the evening of July 19 in 2012]. We hope the criminals will be found and punished in a way they deserve," Khamidullin said.
It was reported earlier that Faizov was injured in a bomb attack and Yakupov shot and killed in Kazan on Thursday morning. Local investigative authorities have opened two criminal cases, one of them dealing with murder and the other with an assassination attempt.