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| Caucasus |
| Basayev sez he iced Kadyrov |
| 2004-05-17 |
| Chechnyaâs top separatist field commander Shamil Basayev has claimed responsibility for the Grozny blast that killed Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov on Victory Day at the Dinamo Stadium, in a letter published on the separatist kavkaz.center.ru site. The suspected terrorist also made vague threats against Russiaâs top leadership, referring to the Prime Minister. According to Basayevâs statement, the stadium blast that killed six people and wounded 89 was part of Operation Revenge, and the sentence issued by the Chechen Shariat court has been carried out. Basayev called May 9 a holiday â âa small victory over fascism and Russism[sic].â âWe want to apologize to President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Aslan Maskhadov for not being able to throw the head of Kadyrov at his feet as we promised a month ago,â Basayevâs statement read. An FSB official in Chechnya, commenting on Basayevâs statement, said investigators are looking into several versions of the incident, including one in which the blast was organized by Basayev. âThe version⊠is being investigated, but it is not the only one,â the regional FSB chief, Yuri Rozhin, told Interfax. Basayev, meanwhile, made further threats in his statement, alluding to the prime minister and the Russian president. âWe are interested in who will be prime minister of Russia, Masha, or Katya... if, through the kindness of Allah, we successfully conduct special operation Moska-2,â he said. Masha and Katya are the names of President Vladimir Putinâs two daughters. Meanwhile, according to investigators, the chief suspect so far is bricklayer Lomali Chupalayev, who was detained May 12, the Izvestia daily reported in an interview with the suspectâs family. As MosNews reported earlier, Chupalayev, 37, had been involved in construction work at the stadium, including laying the foundations. On April 15 and 16 he had taken part in construction work on changing rooms beneath the stand where Kadyrov was killed. Chupalayev is also suspected of being involved in the activities of militant groups, the newspaper reported, citing a police dossier on the suspect. One of his brothers served in a militant group led by field commander Ruslan Gelayev, another â Said-Magomed Chupalayev â served under Shamil Basayev and was sentenced in 2003 to 16 years in prison. Five people have been detained in connection with the blast so far. Investigators are working on four different versions of the attack, Russian media quoted the nationâs deputy general prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky as saying. According to one, the blast was an assassination attempt of a member of the Chechen administration. According to the other three, the blast was a terrorist act meant to destabilize the situation in the republic. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |