Tajik Criminal Dies After Killing Two at Moldova Airport

Rustam Ashurov, 43, a Tajik criminal wanted in his home country for kidnapping a banker, died on Monday night in a hospital in the Moldovan capital after being seriously wounded by special forces officers at Chisinau International Airport while trying to enter the country.

He was shot after killing two men at the airport on Friday. Border policeman Serghei Muntean and airport security employee Igor Ciofu were killed by Ashurov when he was refused entry to Moldova.

Ashurov had arrived on a scheduled flight from Istanbul but was stopped for questioning. After two hours, he seized the border policeman's gun and opened fire.

Special forces officers then arrived and detained the assailant, who suffered severe injuries during their intervention.

Ashurov is a former policeman who was fired for committing crimes after working for Tajikistan's Interior Ministry for seven years.

According to the head of the Moldovan General Police Inspectorate, Viorel Cernauteanu, he was not listed as a suspect in any international database, nor as a member of any terrorist group.

However, according to the Dushanbe Prosecutor's Office, the attacker was allegedly part of a 'criminal group' that kidnapped the first vice-president of Tajikistan-based Orienbank on June 23, a week before the incident in Chisinau.

"He is an ordinary criminal who committed a similar crime on the territory of Tajikistan in 2013, for which he served his sentence and was released from prison early," said Cernauteanu, citing information provided by his counterparts in Tajikistan.

Three investigative officers from Tajikistan arrived in Chisinau on Monday to examine the circumstances of the incident and speak with Moldovan officials.

The Chisinau authorities...