Novaya Gazeta editor Sergei Sokolov says Anastasia Baburova died on the operating table hours after Monday's shooting.

A deputy editor at the newspaper, Andrei Lipsky, said earlier that Baburova was shot when she tried to intervene after a gunman fatally shot lawyer Stanislav Markelov. Baburova was a freelance journalist who had worked for the paper.

Markelov was fighting against the early release of a Russian colonel convicted of murdering a Chechen woman in 2000. He had also represented slain journalist Anna Politkovskaya as well as Chechens and others who reported abuse at the hands of the authorities.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

MOSCOW (AP)—A human-rights lawyer who fought against the early release of a Russian colonel convicted of murdering a Chechen woman was shot dead on a Moscow street Monday, days after the officer left prison, law enforcement authorities said.

A journalist also was wounded in the attack, a newspaper editor said.

The broad-daylight slaying of Stanislav Markelov sparked anger among Chechens—already upset by the release of last week of Col. Yuri Budanov—and prompted an outpouring of grief and ire among Russia's beleaguered rights activists.