Qatar arrests two suspects in assassination of Chechen separatist leader

The Straights Times ^ | Februari 21 2004

[knighthawk]

Some Chechens link assassination to internal disputes but rebels blame Russian intelligence agents

DOHA - Qatar has arrested two people in connection with last week's assassination of former Chechen separatist leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev.

An Interior Ministry official told the state news agency QNA on Thursday the two unnamed suspects were being interrogated over the killing. It did not give further details.

A car blast killed Yandarbiyev, a former guerilla leader and Chechen president linked by Moscow to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda group, when he left a mosque after prayers in the capital of Doha last Friday.

Pro-Moscow Chechens suggested Yandarbiyev's killing was linked to internal disputes, while some Chechen rebels blamed Russian intelligence services.

Within days of the killing, Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani approved an anti-terrorism law.

Officials said Qatar's consultative Shura Council had been discussing the law, which stipulates death for terrorist acts.

Western diplomats say the attack embarrassed pro-Western Qatar, which has been largely free from such violence.

The oil- and gas-rich emirate, which hosted the US Central Command's forward headquarters during last year's war against Iraq, had allowed Yandarbiyev and his family to stay for the past three years while barring him from political activity.

Yandarbiyev, 51, was added at Russia's request last year to a UN list of groups and people with suspected Al-Qaeda ties.

The United States also put him on a list of international terrorists subject to financial sanctions.

He was one of the most prominent proponents of radical Islam among Chechen rebels.

During the rule of the Taleban in Afghanistan, he opened a Chechen embassy in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and a consulate in the southern city of Kandahar.

Russia, which has been battling separatist insurgents in predominantly Muslim Chechnya for nearly a decade with the loss of tens of thousands of lives, considered him a leading militant.

Qatar hosts a variety of Muslim politicians and militants, including Palestinian Hamas leaders, Algerian Muslim fundamentalists and officials of Saddam Hussein's regime. -- Reuters, AP

[knighthawk]

Ping

[endthematrix]

PING me on related threads as well, thanks.

[knighthawk]

Related tho Chechnya or to this case?

[swarthyguy]

UPI Washtimes -

DOHA, Qatar, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Qatar police arrested two Russian intelligence agents Thursday in the Feb. 13 bombing that killed Chechen rebel figure Zelimkhan Yanderbiyev.

Three men were detained five days after Yanderbiyev, wanted by Moscow for terror offences, was killed by a car bomb in Qatar's capital, but a third was released, the BBC reported.

Russia immediately lodged a diplomatic protest in Moscow.

Acting Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov told the Qatari ambassador in Moscow the detainees were "members of the Russian special services ... linked to the battle against international terrorism."

"The insinuation of the Qatar authorities cannot be seen as anything but a hostile move," he said.

Yanderbiyev had been living in Qatar for three years, and Moscow had repeatedly sought but failed to get his extradition.

He was viewed as a key figure behind the 1999 incursion by Chechen rebels into the neighboring region of Dagestan.



Good Job; now get those two outta there.

[knighthawk]

Qatar arrests two Russians for bombing

DOHA, Qatar, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Qatar police arrested two Russian intelligence agents Thursday in the Feb. 13 bombing that killed Chechen rebel figure Zelimkhan Yanderbiyev.

Three men were detained five days after Yanderbiyev, wanted by Moscow for terror offences, was killed by a car bomb in Qatar's capital, but a third was released, the BBC reported.

Russia immediately lodged a diplomatic protest in Moscow.

Acting Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov told the Qatari ambassador in Moscow the detainees were "members of the Russian special services ... linked to the battle against international terrorism."

"The insinuation of the Qatar authorities cannot be seen as anything but a hostile move," he said.

Yanderbiyev had been living in Qatar for three years, and Moscow had repeatedly sought but failed to get his extradition.

He was viewed as a key figure behind the 1999 incursion by Chechen rebels into the neighboring region of Dagestan.

http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20040226-103042-1311r.htm

[knighthawk]

You beat me 3 minutes!

[knighthawk]

Russia Protests Qatar Arrests of Agents Over Killing of Chechen
Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov demanded the release of two Russian intelligence officers arrested by Qatari police who are investigating the killing of former Chechen President Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev.

Ivanov summoned the Qatari ambassador in Moscow yesterday to read him a protest accusing the Persian Gulf state's government of ``a provocation,'' according to a text of his remarks posted on the Foreign Ministry Web site.

Three Russians were detained on the night of Feb. 18 through ``the use of weapons and brutal physical force,'' according to Ivanov's statement.

Yandarbiyev, president of breakaway Chechnya in 1996 and 1997, was killed on Feb. 13 when a bomb exploded in his car in Doha, the capital of Qatar. A week later, the Qatari Interior Ministry said two Russians were being held in connection with the killing, and a third had been released.

The 51-year-old Yandarbiyev had lived in Qatar since 2000. An aide, Ibrahim Gabi, blamed the Russian government for Yandarbiyev's killing, the Associated Press said.

``Official representatives of Russia have already stated that our country had no connection with this incident,'' Ivanov said.

The United Nations last year put Yandarbiyev on a list of people alleged to have links to the al-Qaeda terrorist network. The U.S. put him on a list of international terrorists subject to financial sanctions. Ivanov said Russia had sought the extradition of the Chechen, who had ``a direct link to al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.''

Ivanov said the arrested men, one with a diplomatic passport, were ``employees of Russian special services'' who were investigating ``the sources and channels of financing, organizational mechanisms and other means of support for terrorist organizations.'' He demanded their release and return to Russia.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aUuTrA1ZA4Nk&refer=europe

[knighthawk]

Ping

[RussianConservative]

Well, will US still pretend Qatar on side of war against terror? Hmmm West sleeps, fantasy continues.

[swarthyguy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1079662/posts

Nice analysis of the contradictions of Qatar.

Nice to see Russians adopting the old ATT slogan -

Reach out and touch someone.

Reach out and kill a jihadi bigwig!

[swarthyguy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1079662/posts

Nice analysis of the contradictions of Qatar.

Nice to see Russians adopting the old ATT slogan -

Reach out and touch someone.

Reach out and kill a jihadi bigwig!

[Prodigal Son]

Here's some more on this from the BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3488582.stm

Two Russian intelligence agents have been charged in Qatar with the murder of Chechen rebel figure Zelimkhan Yanderbiyev, local officials say.
The men were detained five days after Mr Yanderbiyev, wanted by Moscow for terror offences, was killed by a car bomb in the Gulf state's capital Doha.

Three Russians were initially detained but the third has been since released.

Confirming that the detainees are anti-terrorism agents, Russia condemned the arrests as a "hostile move".

Russia has denied any involvement in the killing of Mr Yanderbiyev on 13 February.

Acting Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov told the Qatari ambassador in Moscow on Thursday that the detainees were "members of the Russian special services... linked to the battle against international terrorism".

"The insinuation of the Qatar authorities cannot be seen as anything but a hostile move," he said, going on to suggest the Qatari authorities had "practically kept Yanderbiyev under protection".

Mr Ivanov said the Russian detainees had been subjected to "rough physical force".

Prominent figure

Mr Yanderbiyev was killed in a car bomb blast as he left a mosque after prayers in Doha.

He had been living in Qatar for three years and Moscow had repeatedly sought his extradition.

Mr Yanderbiyev briefly took over as Chechen president in 1996 after the death of Dzhokhar Dudayev in an explosion in Chechnya.

He was viewed as a key figure behind the 1999 incursion by Chechen rebels into the neighbouring Russian region of Dagestan.

He was also suspected of links to the siege of a Moscow theatre in October 2002 which left 130 hostages dead.

Mr Yanderbiyev was considered a key link in the Chechen rebels' fundraising network from abroad.

His death occurred one week after a bombing in the Moscow metro which killed 41 people and wounded more than 100.

President Vladimir Putin blamed Chechen rebels for the blast.

[RussianConservative]

Reach out and kill a jihadi bigwig!

But if big wig not around...any jihadi will do....here is saying for America to relearn:

Kill a commie jihadi for mommi.

[swarthyguy]

I'll still keep dreaming of the destruction of Riyad, the fumigation of Makkah, the slaughter of the wahhab imams, and the hand over the Saudi Royals to the other tribes for some tribal justice.

But the strongest minority group in America, the AramcoAmericans, are not too keen on that.

[endthematrix]

Chechnya. I'm on some ping lists...Caucasus' too. Seems as if they aren't getting out.

[knighthawk]

Okay, I will ping you.