An investigation has been launched into the murder of the chief tax inspector of the town of Elektrostal near Moscow, but no solid leads have yet been found, Interior Ministry officials said Tuesday.


Andrei Peskov, who headed the tax inspection department of Elektrostal, 60 kilometers northeast of Moscow, was found unconscious Monday night at the railway station in the neighboring town of Pavlovski Posad and died in the hospital.


Attacks on tax inspectors have become relatively common in Russia, but the assault on Peskov was particularly brutal and had the hallmarks of a planned assassination.


"Peskov was found with gun-shot wounds in the shoulder, chest and head," said Valery Zhuchkov, spokesman for the Moscow Region police department. According to police reports, the foreign-made machine gun with silencer used to kill Peskov was found abandoned in a Lada car 300 meters from the site of the shooting.