"In essence, this confirms what we have long been telling the world: the separatists in the Caucasus, in particular, the Chechen Republic, maintain links with international terrorists. According to the Regional Headquarters for the Counter-Terrorist Operation in the North Caucasus, bandit groups led by Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev include foreign mercenaries who fought in Osama bin Laden's units in Afghanistan.

"According to notes found on the body of the warlord Oybek 'Uzbek' Rakhimov, his own band, which was subordinated to Maskhadov, at one point included the Egyptians Mohammed Islambuli and Mustafa Hamza. They were both from the inner circle of Ayman al-Zawahiri, an aide to Osama bin Laden and an al-Qaeda leader. Uzbek had been in charge of distributing money among the militants, and Islambuli and Hamza's financial accounts were found on him among other documents. This means that Chechen fighters are also sponsored by international Islamic extremist organisations.

"According to an authoritative anti-terrorism expert and the director of London's Al-Makrizi Islamic centre, Akhmed Al-Subaimi, the Islambuli Brigades, the group that has claimed responsibility for the crashes of the Tu-134 and Tu-154 airliners and for the explosion outside Rizhskaya metro station in Moscow, is apparently a Chechen militant organisation with links to al-Qaeda. The group's name emerged after an assassination attempt on Shaukat Aziz, a candidate for the post of Pakistan's prime minister.

"The terrorists took the name for their organization from Haled Islambuli, a lieutenant in the Egyptian army who organised the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat on October 6, 1981. He and his accomplices were convicted by an Egyptian court and executed.

"Various extremist organisations - in Chechnya, the Balkans and Southeast Asia - have taken on the name Islambuli. They often changed their names to throw security services off their trail. Some experts say that Haled's brother Mohammed is in charge of the Islambuli Brigades.

"Following the arrest and execution of Islambuli and his fellow conspirators, Egypt adopted Law No. 162 on the state of emergency in the country, which remains in force to this day. It has enabled the state to arrest and convict hundreds of extremists and ban various illegal religious organisations. The country's experience has proved that such measures are effective: Egypt has not fallen victim to any major terrorist attacks in the past seven years."