A shootout that erupted over a dispute about money in Russia's Dagestan region killed nine people early Sunday, including a police officer, authorities said, according to AP. The gunfire broke out after a group of gunmen came to the village of Gonoda to demand money allegedly owed them by a resident, regional Interior Ministry spokesman Mark Tolchinsky said. Dagestan is plagued by violence connected with criminal activities and with insurgent activity that has spread from neighboring Chechnya. Some of those killed in the Gonoda shooting were relatives of Dagestan Interior Minister Adilgerei Magomedtagirov, according to Tolchinsky. It was not immediately known if the dispute was connected to his official activities. In a separate incident, gunmen killed a policeman at his home Saturday night in the Dagestani town of Kizylyurt, Tolchinsky said.
