Moscow, July 17 (Xinhua) The sports and tourism minister of Russia's North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia was killed when some gunmen attacked his car Friday morning, authorities said.

The vehicle carrying Ruslan Balayev and his driver was fired at in the village of Sredniye Achaluki, leaving both of them dead on the scene, Interfax quoted an interior official as saying.

The incident follows a series of attacks on officials in the troubled North Caucasus region. The leader of Ingushetia, Yunus-bek Yevkurov, was also injured in an assassination attempt last month.

The North Caucasus republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan have seen a rise in violence in recent months.

In April this year Russia had formally ended an anti-terrorist operation in Chechnya, which has experienced two bloody separatist wars in the past 15 years.