Unknown assailants gunned down Chynybek Aliev, the top anticorruption official at the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry, in Bishkek on 5 May. Aliev was shot several times at point-blank range on a crowded city street at 6:30 p.m. Although the attacker, or attackers, fled the scene, the police immediately blocked off roads leading into and out of the capital. Interior Ministry sources told ITAR-TASS that they are sure that Aliev\'s murder was a contract killing and not a random crime. At least seven high-profile contract killings have taken place in Kyrgyzstan over the last two months. (RIA-Novosti)