Police solve murder of Chechen official

The Russian interior ministry has solved the murder of Benal Dzhamalov, 47, the head of the administration of the village of Bachi-Yurt, Chechnya's Kurchaloi district. According to a source in the operational headquarters that coordinate the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus, the murder was committed on May 30th, 2002. One of these days, the police arrested the murderers, three members of a separatist gang.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the arrestees had been involved in a number of other crimes committed in Chechnya's Kurchaloi district. On May 31st, together with two other members of the bandit group, they murdered a 47-year-old local. A month later, on June 22nd, they assassinated another local resident, a 27-year-old man.

The police are checking into the possibility of the arrestees' involvement in other crimes and trying to track down the rest of the bandit group.