Well-known leader of large militant group killed in Chechnya

Well-known leader of a large militant group Zelimkhan Akhmadov has been killed in Chechnya. His body was found in the field near the Chechen Aul village as early as on September 14th, but was identified only later, said representative of the regional headquarters for controlling the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus Ilya Shabalkin to RIA Novosti on Friday.

The car carrying Akhmadov exploded on an explosive device, Shabalkin said. Yet he was the only one to suffer in the explosion. Thus, it cannot be ruled out that the explosion was staged, and Akhmadov had been brought to the field already dead, Shabalkin pointed out.

Zelimkhan Akhmadov was the youngest in the clan of the Akhmadovs from Urus Martan. For a long time he was engaged in kidnapping on the Chechen territory and in spreading the Wahhabism ideology. He became a leader of the bandit group after his brother Rizvan had been killed in an inner "financial showdown" between militants. Only 2 out of the 10 Akhmadov brothers are still alive and are now hiding on the territory of Georgia, Shabalkin added.