Rebel leader 'killed' in Chechnya
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5089942.stm
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Chechen separatist rebel leader Abdul-Khalim Saydullayev has been killed in a police operation, the pro-Moscow government says.
Police had located him in the town of Argun and he had been killed in a gun battle when they moved in, said Chechen cabinet minister Muslim Khuchiyev.
No comment from the rebels was immediately available.
Mr Saydullayev was appointed in 2005 to replace Aslan Maskhadov after the rebel president died in a Russian attack.
Details of his death are still being investigated, Mr Khuchiyev added.
Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov welcomed the news as "a severe blow" to the separatists.
"The terrorists have been virtually beheaded... and they are never going to recover from it," he told Russian news agencies.
Though appointed leader, Mr Saydullayev was a relatively obscure figure, correspondents say.
He used to make religious programmes for the separatists' TV station and speeches he released as leader are couched in Islamist language.
He was much less prominent than veteran separatist commander Shamil Basayev who appeared on a rebel website last week in what was billed as a new video.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5089942.stm
Quote:
Chechen separatist rebel leader Abdul-Khalim Saydullayev has been killed in a police operation, the pro-Moscow government says.
Police had located him in the town of Argun and he had been killed in a gun battle when they moved in, said Chechen cabinet minister Muslim Khuchiyev.
No comment from the rebels was immediately available.
Mr Saydullayev was appointed in 2005 to replace Aslan Maskhadov after the rebel president died in a Russian attack.
Details of his death are still being investigated, Mr Khuchiyev added.
Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov welcomed the news as "a severe blow" to the separatists.
"The terrorists have been virtually beheaded... and they are never going to recover from it," he told Russian news agencies.
Though appointed leader, Mr Saydullayev was a relatively obscure figure, correspondents say.
He used to make religious programmes for the separatists' TV station and speeches he released as leader are couched in Islamist language.
He was much less prominent than veteran separatist commander Shamil Basayev who appeared on a rebel website last week in what was billed as a new video.
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