BISHKEK, Oct 16: Unknown assailants shot dead a local parliamentary deputy in Kyrgyzstan, officials said on Monday, the latest in a string of similar murders since the overthrow of president Askar Akayev last year.

Aibek Alimzhanov, a deputy in the local parliament of the southern province of Osh and a wealthy businessman, was shot in the head while in the office of a cafe owner on Sunday, interior ministry spokesman Nurdin Zhangarayev said.

Investigators were looking at both Alimzhanov’s political and business activities as possible motives.

Another local lawmaker in the same area was assassinated earlier this year, and since the ouster of Mr Akayev three national deputies and one parliamentary candidate have been murdered.

Opposition members and western observers have repeatedly highlighted the renewed rise in mafia-style killings and the growing political influence of organised crime.

The south of the central Asian state is an important transit route for opium from Afghanistan. —AFP