Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev claims that the whereabouts of killed rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov were discovered by Russian Security Forces because they managed to intercept his mobile telephone calls, Chechen separatist Web site Kavkazcenter.Com reports. Maskhadov made a number of phone calls every day after negotiations were suggested by Russian authorities in the fall of 2004, Basayev says. He spoke to his representatives abroad and to rebel leaders based in the Caucasus Mountains, and sent lots of SMS text messages. Although he did not use the cell phone himself, it was obvious that the answers on his behalf were given immediately.
| Either Binny's not making the same mistake, or taking out Qazi's guesthouse in Lahore isn't politically feasible at the moment. |
"Aslan did not need arms. Concealment was the best way to stay alive and he broke it by excessive use of a mobile," the warlord stresses. "Thus, there were no traitors in Maskhadov's inner circle, and the $10 million reward will go to the head of Russia's Federal Security Service, Nikolai Patrushev, who will get about $5 million, and the people who work at the local FSB branch," Kavkazcenter quoted Basayev. The rebel warlord stresses that his combatants received the news of Maskhadov's death with satisfaction because it inspired them to continue jihad against the "unfaithful" in the name of their great leader.
"He's dead, Dzhim!"
"Ooooh! That just makes me wanna DZHIHAD!" |
Rebel intelligence reported to Basayev that the operation in the Chechen town of Tolstoi-Yurt which led to Maskhadov's death on March 8 was aimed at eliminating the Chechen separatist leader, but not at preventing a terror act, as the Russian authorities said. Shamil Basayev claims that the underground shelter where the dead body of the Chechen leader was found had not been the place where he lived. It was built for the house owner's cousin, who had been on the run for several years. Aslan Maskhadov and his aides occupied a separate house and only moved to the bunker at the beginning of the siege. Basayev describes Vakhita Murdashev and Viskhan Hadzhimuratov who were with the rebel leader during the attack as untrustworthy people. He stressed that they should not have left the bunker and surrendered. Their fate was to die for Maskhadov. "There was no chance for FSB officers to capture Aslan. I made a belt of explosives for him last year and it was permanently with him. Dying in the name of Allah he became a 'Shakhid' (a suicide-bomber who kills himself according to Islam traditions of revenge — MosNews). The Russians only abase themselves by idle talk over his dead body," Basayev concluded. |