Four Russian servicemen accompanying a rail consignment of tanks to the country's Pacific coast region have been found shot dead in a boxcar, the military said today.
Military prosecutor Mr Sergei Zaryayev told Russian television the four men were discovered when the train stopped in Abakan, central Siberia.
Their automatic weapons and pistols had been taken along with a supply of ammunition.
Mr Zaryayev said the men had either been killed by a fifth serviceman charged with guarding the consignment or a civilian who knew well the train's route from outside Moscow to Ussuriisk near the Pacific coast.
RTR state television showed bullet holes pockmarking the boxcar in which the four men had been travelling.
Russian servicemen have frequently been involved in thefts of weapons or equipment to augment their meagre allowances.
