ROSTOV-ON-DON, January 20 (RIA Novosti) - A gun attack on a car in Ingushetia has left a woman dead and a senior police officer seriously injured, a spokesman for the Prosecutor's Office in the North Caucasus republic said on Tuesday.

The acting head of the Sunzha District criminal investigation department, Alikhan Geroyev, was driving the car in Ingushetia's largest town, Nazran, when it came under fire on Tuesday afternoon.

Passenger Margarita Khashagulgova died at the scene and Geroyev was hospitalized in serious condition. The criminals escaped.

The republic in Russia's North Caucasus has seen a rise in violence in the last year. The Moscow Helsinki Group, a Russia-based human rights group, said in September that the predominantly Muslim republic was on the verge of civil war as fighting between militants and authorities intensified. It also accused federal authorities of involvement in abductions and torture.