Nigerian man stabbed to death, has ears cut off in Moscow

            

MOSCOW A Nigerian man was found stabbed to death in southern Moscow with his ears cut off in a grisly murder, investigators said on Tuesday.

The body of the 28-year-old man, named as Akintola Olufemi, was "found with numerous stab wounds and with his ears cut off," lying close to rail tracks, the Investigative Committee wrote in a statement published on its website.

The man had been stabbed at least eight times, a spokesperson for the committee, Viktoria Tsyplenkova, told the Interfax news agency.

Moskovsky Komsomolets daily reported that the victim was a student in the northern city of Arkhangelsk and that the crime appeared not to have been a robbery as his papers and wallet were left at the scene.

Attacks against foreigners of non-European appearance occur regularly in Russia, although the authorities say that numbers have been dropping amid a crackdown on extremist organisations.

An NGO that monitors hate crimes, Sova, said in a report released in March that there were 37 hate killings in 2010, while 382 people were injured in attacks with racist or neo-nazi motives.