Chechen separatist rebel leader Abdul-Khalim Saydullayev has been killed in a police operation, the pro-Moscow government says. Police had located him in the town of Argun and he was killed in a gun battle when they moved in, said Chechen cabinet minister Muslim Khuchiyev. No comment from the rebels was immediately available. Mr Saydullayev was appointed in 2005 to replace Aslan Maskhadov after the rebel president died in a Russian attack. Details of his death are still being investigated, Mr Khuchiyev added. Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov welcomed the news as "a severe blow" to the separatists. "The terrorists have been virtually beheaded... and they are never going to recover from it," he told Russian news agencies.
Though appointed leader, Mr Saydullayev was a relatively obscure figure, correspondents say. He used to make religious programmes for the separatists' TV station and speeches he released as leader are couched in Islamist language.
He was much less prominent than veteran separatist commander Shamil Basayev who appeared on a rebel website last week in what was billed as a new video.
Bad Guyz confirm...
The Press Service and the Administration of the President of the CRI have officially confirmed the death of the President of CRI, the Amir SDK Majlisul Shura of CRI, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of CRI Armed Forces, the Amir of Caucasian Mujahideen Sheikh Abdul-Halim Sadulayev.
Sheikh Abdul-Halim has been martyred (Insha Allah!) in an unequal battle with Russian invaders and national traitors in his hometown Argun.
The invaders and puppets report that Sheikh Abdul-Halim died in a battle that took place in the town of Argun on Saturday morning of June 17, 2006. Two members of the FSB were killed in this battle. Because of this, two of the people who took up the fight in a private house in Argun were able to break through the ring of encirclement and to get away.
Ringleaders of puppet formations declared that the assassination of Chechen leader and Amir of Caucasian Mujahideen was "a big success of exceptional importance" which "will deal a severe blow" to Mujahideen.