Gunmen kill faith healer in southern Russia

Rostov-On-Don, Russia - Russia: Masked gunmen burst into the home of a well-known doctor and faith healer in the southern Russian region of Ingushetia on Monday and shot her dead, the Interior Ministry said.

It was the second killing of a faith healer in Ingushetia in two years, and the eighth across the restive, mostly Muslim Russian Caucasus this year alone. Authorities blamed radical Muslims, who believe that faith healing is a sin against Islam.

Elena Goryachenko, a 40-year-old native of Chechnya, was shot dead in front of her son in her house in the village of Ordzhonikidze, said the southern regional branch of the Russian Interior Ministry.

Seven faith healers, including three who also served as mainstream Islamic clerics, were killed this year in the nearby republic of Karachayevo-Cherkessiya.