NAZRAN, October 12 (RIA Novosti) - The uncle of Murat Zyazikov, the

head of Russia's unsettled Ingushetia region, has been freed more than six months after being kidnapped by gunmen.

Uruskhan Zyazikov was seized by three unidentified men on March 23 during a visit to a mosque in the village of Barsuki near the region's largest town of Nazran. He was released late on Thursday.

A police source said that Zyazikov had been abducted by a high-ranking member of the armed group headed by Doku Umarov, a Chechen rebel leader operating in both Chechnya and Ingushetia.

"The kidnappers had been holding him [Zyazikov] on the territories of Chechnya and Ingushetia," the source said.

He also added that a decision had been taken to secure Zyazikov's release through negotiations with the kidnappers rather than by force as there had existed a very real threat to the hostage's life.

Russia's North Caucasus region has been plagued with violence since the 1994 attempt by Russian federal troops to put down a Chechen independence movement that led to two brutal and devastating wars.

Of late, however, troubles have shifted from Chechnya to Ingushetia, and the region has seen a rapid escalation of violence in recent months.