Details of operation to eliminate Chechen terrorist "Bolshoi Aslanbek"

The Regional Staff has reported the details of an operation to eliminate Chechen separatist Aslanbek Abdukhadzhiyev, a deputy of Shamil Basayev's who was in charge of intelligence and subversive tasks.

On Monday, August 26th, the Russian interior ministry task force in Chechnya's Shali district conducted an operation to arrest the terrorist, who was armed with two pistols and an F-1 grenade. The militant was killed in an armed clash which he initiated. The body was brought to Khankala for subsequent identification. Later this day Abdukhadzhiyev's relatives are expected in the town.

The 40-year-old militant, who was known under his nickname Bolshoi Aslanbek (Great Aslanbek), was a member of Basayev and Raduyev's gangs and an active participant in armed attacks on the towns of Budyonnovsk, Stavropol territory, and Kizlyar, Dagestan. During Maskhadov's rule, he was a military commandant in Chechnya's Shali district. As a member of Basayev's gang, he personally supervised subversive and terrorist activity.

Abdukhadzhiyev was wanted by the federal authorities since the day of the attack on Budyonnovsk, but managed to avoid arrest for seven years running.