Police kill Chechen warlord

Muslim Gakayev, in charge of what was called a special department of the Vedeno front, has been killed in Chechnya's Vedeno district.

On January 8, law enforcers encountered a group of gunmen about 1.5 km off the village of Elistanji in Chechnya's Vedeno district, the operational headquarters for the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus reports. They offered a rebuff when the policemen attempted to apprehend them. Muslim Gakayev, 28, was killed in the ensuing short skirmish. Also killed were two more militants - Rizvan Galayev, 25, and Abusupyan Jabrailov, 23.

The police suffered no losses. They are inquiring into whether the killed militants had anything to do with the earlier crimes.