Image copyright EPA Image caption Two of the victims were hit by a car, police said. 
 
 Three people have been killed and 23 taken to hospital after a mass brawl at a Moscow cemetery, apparently sparked by a dispute about jobs, police say. 
 
 Russian news reports said up to 200 people took part in the brawl at the south-west Khovanskoye cemetery. 
 
 Police said two of the victims died after being run over by a car as people escaped from the scene. 
 
 Police spokeswoman Sofya Khotina said the three people in the car, who were armed with pistols, were arrested. 
 
 Image copyright EPA Image caption One car appeared to have bullet holes in the side. 
 
 The brawlers fired guns and fought with shovels, shovel handles, steel bars and baseball bats, Russian news reports said. 
 
 More than 90 people were arrested, according to police. 
 
 Reports said police officers fired into the air in an attempt to quell the violence. 
 
 Image copyright EPA Image caption Suspects were led away in lines by police 
 
 Police believe the brawl was caused by a territorial dispute between two different groups of workers, fighting over the cemetery's lucrative services business. 
 
 Reports said they were from ethnic groups from ex-Soviet Central Asia and the Caucasus. 
 
 The Khovanskoye cemetery is a massive 200-hectare (500-acre) site on Moscow's southwestern outskirts. ||||| At least three people have been killed and nearly 30 hospitalized in a mass brawl at a Moscow cemetery. Around 200 people - most of them migrants - took part in the fight, reportedly a turf war at the cemetery. 
 
 Police and National Guard forces were deployed to deal with the fight at the Khovanskoye cemetery on the southwestern outskirts of Moscow on Saturday. 
 
 While many of those involved in the fight were reportedly armed with bats, sticks, and metal bars, gunfire was also heard at the scene, with eyewitnesses saying the shooting lasted at least 15 minutes. 
 
 Some of those involved in the fight were armed with Kalashnikov rifles, a source in law enforcement told TASS. 
 
 At least 29 people have been hospitalized, TASS reported citing Moscow's Health Department. Four of them are in critical condition. Three bodies were discovered at the scene. 
 
 None of those who were involved in the armed conflict are official cemetery employees, RIA Novosti reported citing Moscow police. Most of them are foreign nationals, who are in Russia illegally, officials said. 
 
 A group of people, reportedly natives of the North Caucasus, arrived at the cemetery in 15 cars, according to Interfax. They were met by migrants who worked there - privately hired by families of deceased people. The migrants were armed with shovels and crowbars. When the invaders realized they were outnumbered, they attempted to flee, shooting from car windows. The migrants then blocked off roads and the fight began. 
 
 As three suspects tried to flee the scene in a car, they reportedly ran over and killed two people. 
 
 Around 100 people have been detained, according to TASS' source in law enforcement. Official estimates state that about 200 people participated in the brawl. Other sources have placed the number at up to 400. 
 
 Several defunct assault rifles used to frighten the 'enemy' were seized, a source in law enforcement told RIA Novosti. However, other lethal and non-lethal weapons were discovered at the scene. The entire cemetery was reportedly left covered in brick debris, with bullet casings scattered everywhere. 
 
 The suspected attackers were heavily armed and wore bulletproof vests, according to TASS citing a law enforcement source. The attack had been "planned long ago," a cemetery employee told RIA Novosti, adding that the invaders "entered from all sides and beat everyone up and shot at cars, right in front of the clients." 
 
 The shooting and the elevated security in the area caused massive traffic jams near the cemetery. There have been unconfirmed reports that the cemetery has been closed to the public and burials have been canceled for Saturday. 
 
 This was the first time the newly formed National Guard has been deployed, with 200 special forces’ servicemen participating in the operation. 
 
 200 человек подрались на Хованском кладбище | подробности на bonjournal.kz (https://t.co/w9C5hKe1pQ) pic.twitter.com/qY6CbGVry4 — журнал Bonjour (@bonjourkz) May 14, 2016 
 
 Khovanskoye cemetery’s director was fired following the incident, Aleksey Nemeryuk, the head of Moscow’s Trade and Services Department, told journalists on Saturday, adding that action would also be taken against a private security firm that was responsible for security at the cemetery, but failed to provide it. 
 
 According to preliminary reports, none of the graves were damaged, the official said. 
 
 "When we were approaching the cemetery, there was only a small traffic jam, with the police gathering nearby. We drove past the cemetery, and started hearing gunshots, but we didn’t pay much attention. And when we were going back, the shots stopped, but the cars along the roads had broken windows. We drove on, and saw some 50 migrants lying on the ground, surrounded by special forces, and medics were carrying a dead body," a witness told Komsomolskaya Pravda radio. 
 
 One of the visitors to the cemetery told LifeNews that she and her husband were leaving the grounds after visiting their daughter's grave. As they stood in the traffic jam on their way out, two large men jumped into the back seat of their car. 
 
 "Immediately, some 15 people with bats and sticks ran up, they started to hit the car," the woman said. The attackers tried to pull the two men from the car, shouting, "They killed two of ours." The husband got out of the car to stop the attack and was hit in the temple. He is now in hospital. 
 
 В Москве мигранты не поделили кладбище. Есть жертвы https://t.co/p3NaKpUAAFpic.twitter.com/eTArb2sxWT — Витебский Курьер (@VK__) May 14, 2016 
 
 The conflict at the cemetery wasn’t due to nationality issues, but because of a turf war, the Interior Ministry told Interfax. 
 
 Several diasporas participated in the fight, according to the cemetery's administration, as cited by RIA Novosti. Among them were people from the Central Asian former Soviet Republics of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, who were allegedly attacked by citizens of Chechnya and Dagestan from the North Caucasus. The latter wanted to chase the former from the territory and set up their own businesses providing services for the cemetery. It reportedly yields a substantial income. 
 
 "They came and told us, ‘You’d be working for us’. You’ll give us the whole sum, and we’ll give you back 10 percent. We didn’t agree, so they arrived, all armed, about 100 people, and shot people dead, just for that money,” one of the injured told LifeNews. ||||| At least two people were killed Saturday in a brawl at a Moscow cemetery involving hundreds of people armed with bats, sticks and metal bars, according to Russian media. 
 
 The Interior Ministry says at least 10 people were injured in the fracas at Khovanskoye cemetery in southwest Moscow, according to RT.com, which reports the fight involved as many as 400 people. 
 
 Очевидцы сняли бой на Хованском кладбище в Москве https://t.co/6wc3VftFLu — АрамАшотыч (@AramAshotich) May 14, 2016 
 
 At least one of the dead was a police officer, the Interfax news agency reports and quotes an unidentified source as saying a third body had been found. 
 
 Police spokeswoman Sofia Khotina told Interfax that the two victims were hit by a car driven by someone trying to flee the scene of Saturday’s brawl. 
 
 She said the three people in the car, who were armed with pistols, were among more than 50 people detained by police. She said they would be questioned to determine who was responsible for the deaths. 
 
 The brawl may have erupted over an ongoing attempt by an armed gang to extort money from cemetery workers and "tax" them up to 90 % of their earnings, Life-ru reports. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1TgeqHA ||||| MOSCOW (AP) — Moscow police say a brawl at a cemetery involving up to 200 people has left two people dead and 10 wounded. 
 
 Police spokeswoman Sofia Khotina told the Interfax news agency the two victims were hit by a car driven by someone trying to flee the scene of Saturday's brawl. 
 
 She said the three people in the car, who were armed with pistols, were among more than 50 people detained by police. She said they would be questioned to determine who was responsible for the deaths. 
 
 Russian news reports cited police as saying the brawl was believed to have been about control over providing burial services at the sprawling Khovanskoye cemetery in southwest Moscow. 
 
 Interfax said participants used shovels, shovel handles, steel bars and baseball bats and also fired non-lethal handguns.
– Two people died during a massive fight involving up to 200 people—though initial reports put the number at 400—armed with shovels, steel bars, and baseball bats Saturday at a Russian cemetery, the AP reports. According to RT, the police and national guard were called in to break up the battle at Khovanskoye cemetery in Moscow. The BBC describes the conflict as a "territorial dispute between two different groups of cemetery workers." Combatants were possibly fighting a "turf war" over who gets to provide burial services at the highly profitable 500-acre cemetery, Moscow's largest. But USA Today reports workers may have been fighting a gang that tried to force them to pay up to 90% of their wages as a "tax." Russian police say the two people killed during Saturday's fracas were run over by a car fleeing the scene. Three people in the car, all reportedly armed with guns, were arrested. In total more than 50 people were arrested in connection with the brawl. Ten people were reported wounded. Some combatants were said to be armed with guns and gunfire was reported, but it appears no one was shot. A police officer was originally reported to have died while breaking up the fight, but that was later retracted.