Khattab’s three gangs destroyed in Chechnya

Assistant President Sergey Yastrzhembsky summed up the preliminary results of the special operation that is currently taking place in the republic of Chechnya in the settlements of Dubai-Yurt, Cher-Yurt, Starye, and Noviye Atagy. In the words from Yastrzhembsky, there were three bandit groups destroyed; these were the groups, which were commanded by Khattab. The commander of one of the groups, Khattab’s former companion, Abu Yakub (originates from Jordan), was killed. The headquarters of the gunmen were detected and exterminated. Khattab himself was not found in the area where the special operation took place.

Abu Yakub was shot during the operation; he used to be the head of Khattab’s reconnaissance. There is information that Yakub was killed in a regular skirmish that happened during the course of a cleansing procedure in the settlement of Starye Atagy. Three guerrillas were killed, and Abu Yakub was one of them.

A command center of the gunmen was also found in Starye Atagy. The assistant president said that the point was even equipped with computers and fax machines. It is not clear, however, what the bandits did with those fax machines. The command center was destroyed.

Sergei Yastrzhembsky stated that the special operation was still going on. The federal forces announced that there were six secret guerrilla groups hiding in the area of the mentioned settlements; each group consists of 60–100 gunmen.

Photo by Laurent Van der Stockt: Chechen fighter. Chechnya, 1995