A young television news presenter was shot dead in a city centre in Russia's volatile North Caucasus, the latest deadly attack against a journalist to shock the region, officials said Thursday. President Vladimir Putin said that the killing of 28-year-old journalist Kazbek Gekkiyev showed that Russia still had to improve the rights of its citizens and vowed his killers would be punished.

Gekkiyev was gunned down on Wednesday evening at about 9:00 pm (1700 GMT) as he was returning from work in the city of Nalchik, the regional centre of the Kabardino-Balkaria region, the local interior ministry said. Gekkiyev was a news presenter at the regional branch of state channel VGTRK, but shocked colleagues said he never covered any controversial subjects that could offend anyone. Unknown assailants shot him three times, and the journalist died on the spot, said the Moscow-based Investigative Committee.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012