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More on the Canuck jihadi
Russian forces fighting in the breakaway republic of Chechnya said yesterday they had killed a Canadian mercenary who was fighting alongside anti-Kremlin rebels. Rudwan Khalil, who according to his passport is a 26-year-old resident of Vancouver, was reportedly killed along with three other rebels on Thursday in a gun battle outside Niki-Khita, in the Caucasus mountains in southern Chechnya. A Russian army spokesman said Mr. Khalil, described in local news reports as being of "Afro-American origin," was an explosives expert sent from abroad to aid the cause of Chechen independence.

While foreign citizens have frequently been killed fighting alongside Chechen rebels in the past, this is the first time a Canadian is reported to have taken part in the conflict. Russian state television last night showed camouflage-clad Russian soldiers standing over the bodies of the four men, exhibiting a Canadian passport and a B.C. driver's licence issued in June, 2002. A man listed as M. Abubaker of Vancouver, who identified himself as Mr. Khalil's brother, told The Canadian Press yesterday that he was unaware that his brother had been reported killed. "The last thing I knew was that he went for a wedding. A buddy of his was getting married," Mr. Abubaker said. "He went to visit my dad and from my dad he went away a little bit looking for a job. Then he went for a wedding and is supposedly coming back. He's just a Vancouver kid. He grew up here."
Then how do you explain the corpse?
Reynald Doiron, a spokesman for Canada's Foreign Affairs Department, said from Ottawa that a passport with the same name and number as the one shown was issued in Vancouver. But he said Ottawa has not confirmed the Russian account of Mr. Khalil's activities. RCMP in Vancouver were trying yesterday to track down Mr. Khalil's sister, who was listed on the passport as next-of-kin. They said a family member asked them to withhold information on the case.

Major-General Ilya Shabalkin told Russian news agencies that when the fight broke out, the three Chechens accompanying Mr. Khalil were escorting him to a meeting with Akhmed Avdorkhanov, a top Chechen commander who reports directly to the republic's deposed president, Aslan Maskhadov. Maj-Gen. Shabalkin described Mr. Khalil as a "highly skilled demolition sapper" sent to replace an Algerian fighter taken prisoner last month by Russian soldiers. News of the apparent involvement of a Canadian mercenary may force the conflict higher onto the agenda when Prime Minister Paul Martin visits Moscow next week. Canada has in the past avoided public pronouncements on the war.
Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-10-10
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=45562