MOSCOW, August 10 (RIA Novosti) - The president of the south Russian republic of Ingushetia, who survived an assassination attempt in June, was released from a Moscow hospital on Monday.
Yunus-Bek Yevkurov underwent a series of operations in Moscow after sustaining head and internal injuries when a car bomb exploded as his motorcade passed by on June 22.
The Ingush leader appeared before journalists wearing a tracksuit and using a walking stick.
"I hope to be back at work in a week's time," he told reporters.
His press secretary said earlier that Yevkurov would undergo a five-day rehabilitation course in a medical center near Moscow and would return to the republic late next week.
Russia's mainly Muslim North Caucasus regions have seen a rise in violence in recent months. Attacks on police, officials and troops have been reported almost daily in Ingushetia and Dagestan that border Chechnya, which saw two separatist wars in the late 1990s-early 2000s.
The rise in violence followed the Kremlin officially announcing an end of its anti-terrorism campaign in the region.
Yevkurov spoke out against tough antiterrorism measures in Ingushetia, saying "there is no need" for them, but vowed to wipe out militants who would not surrender.
A group led by notorious Chechen warlord Doku Umarov has claimed responsibility for the bombing, which also killed two men accompanying the president. Umarov is a former underground president of Chechnya and now the self-proclaimed leader of the North Caucasus, or the Caucasus Emirate.
The attack on Yevkurov came after a series of high-profile killings in Ingushetia and Dagestan.
Ingushetia's forensics chief died in July after a shooting, and the republic's Supreme Court judge and Dagestan's interior minister were assassinated in June. In Chechnya, a respected human rights activist was abducted and killed last month.
