Charity worker Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband were found dead

The head of a Russian charity and her husband have been found dead in Chechnya a day after their abduction, activists and officials said.

The bodies of Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband were found with gunshot wounds in a car boot near the Chechen capital Grozny, the interior ministry said.

Armed men seized the two on Monday from the offices of Ms Sadulayeva's charity, Let's Save the Generation.

The case follows July's abduction and killing of activist Natalia Estemirova.

Ms Sadulayeva and her husband Alek Djabrailov were in their mid-20s and had just got married, reports say.

Their bodies were found in the boot of Mr Djabrailov's car in the Chernorechye suburb of Grozny early on Tuesday, an official at the Chechen prosecutor's office said.

The official, quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency, said the armed kidnappers had been wearing camouflage uniforms.

Let's Save the Generation helps children affected by violence in Chechnya and works closely with the United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef.

Murder cases

The southern Russian republic was ravaged by war between local separatists and Russian forces in the 1990s.

Ms Estemirova was a prominent campaigner who had been investigating human rights abuses in Chechnya for Memorial.

She was found dead shortly after being bundled into a car outside her home in Grozny. Her killing provoked an international outcry.

Memorial's chairman has accused Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov of involvement in her death.

In a radio interview last week Mr Kadyrov denied the accusation, but denounced Ms Estemirova as a person "without honour, merit or conscience".

In recent years many of Mr Kadyrov's most prominent critics have been shot dead, including Ms Estemirova and investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

He denies any involvement in their murder.

There have been murders or attempted murders in Chechnya, Moscow, the Middle East and Austria. One victim, a former bodyguard, accused Mr Kadyrov of being personally involved in killings and torture.