Azernews.Az

BAKU – Azerbaijani pop singer Faig Aghayev was brutally stabbed Monday after an argument with another driver on the road, the Interior Ministry said.

Aghayev was hospitalized with six wounds, but his condition is currently stable, doctors say.

The singer was driving his vehicle in the Nasimi district of Baku when the dispute emerged with the driver and passengers of a Russian-made Zhiguli car. When the bickering boiled into a conflict, the singer and two others in his car who are said to be his bodyguards were stabbed scores of times.

Though the culprits escaped, the police managed to swiftly seize one of them. He was identified as Rufat Malikov, a 32-year-old resident of Baku, police officials said.

Malikov admitted during questioning that the stabbing was caused by the dispute with Aghayev.

Investigator Jovdat Iskandarov said Malikov had turned himself in to the police. He has a previous conviction for murder.

Iskandarov said the dispute had been caused by the drivers’ refusing to give each other the right of way.

The investigator also said complicity in the assault on the singer of the other two persons, one of whom is a woman, has not yet been proven.

Iskandarov added that the incident took place by accident and was not a premeditated act.

According to the Clinical Medical Center, Aghayev sustained four stabs in the back and one each in his thigh and abdomen. The singer has undergone a surgery and is currently in intensive care.

Doctor Adalat Dadashov said that since the stab wounds were not deep, none of Aghayev’s internal organs were damaged.

"He has now recuperated and his life is not in danger," Dadashov said.