Russia has evidence that this month’s terrorist attack on the Moscow metro was organised by Arab mercenary Abu al-Valid who is believed to have succeeded the notorious Khattab, eliminated by special services in 2002. According to intelligence reports, Al-Valid was paid $4.5 million for the attack and has already left Chechnya for one of the Persian Gulf states.
| A bonus, and promoted to upper management, was he? |
That information was reported by representatives of Russia’s special services. Security agents first suggested Abu al-Valid might be involved in the attack several days after the explosion, though no evidence substantiating those assertions had been available. Today’s statement by Interfax’s anonymous source confirmed earlier assumptions of Al-Valid’s possible implication in organising the attack. ’’According to our data, Arab mercenary Abu al-Valid, one of the leaders of Chechnya’s bandit formations, has had $4.5 million transferred into his personal foreign account for preparing and perpetrating the act of terrorism in the Moscow metro on 6 February,’’ an source in the special services told the news agency. The fact that Khattab’s successor left Chechnya shortly after the blast may implicitly prove that he organised the attack and received remuneration. When and how he departed from the republic remains unclear but Russian security agents are convinced that the Arab terrorist is currently hiding in one of the Persian Gulf states.
Russian special services have reported him killed six times, but each time those reports had to be refuted after the mercenary leader re-surfaced in the republic, alive and well. In November of last year the FSB offered a $100,000 reward for any information leading to the location and extermination of the elusive Arab. It has been established that by organizing terrorist acts Al-Valid used suicide bombers, mostly women. In particular, suicide bombers carried out attacks on a government compound in Znamenskoye, at a religious festival in Iliskhan-Yurt, where a bomber blew herself up in the presence of Akhmad Kadyrov, and on a bus carrying troops to Mozdok. An explosion that tore though a Victory Day parade on 9 May 2002 in the Dagestani port of Kaspiisk, too, was ascribed to Al-Valid, who organized the attack with the help of his aide, Rappani Khalilov. If Al-Valid has indeed fled, separatist leaders Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov may follow his example shortly. Without regular financing from abroad rebel leaders will find it harder to continue active resistance to federal troops. Judging by special service reports they have not received any financing for three months now.
| I think I'll take this report with a grain of salt and maybe a little garlic. Russian news services aren't the most reliable. I can't see any other indications that the Chechen big hats are gonna bail. As of end of November, he was described by the Bad Guys as being in charge of the Eastern Front. |
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