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Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov has been killed by Russian troops fighting to quell a long rebellion in the mainly Muslim Caucasus region, the Russian army announced March 8, 2005. Maskhadovon salutes on the day of his presidential inauguration in Grozny, in this file photo from February 12, 1997 (Grigory Dukor/Reuters)

Chechen Leader Maskhadov Killed, Boost for Putin

By Richard Balmforth

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov was killed Tuesday by Russian security forces, authorities said, giving a boost to President Vladimir Putin's hard-line campaign to crush the separatist rebellion in Chechnya.

The 53-year-old Maskhadov, who had battled Russian troops in his North Caucasus homeland for more than a decade, was killed in a village just north of the regional capital Grozny, security chiefs said.

Russian television showed the gray-haired Maskhadov lying, bare-chested, on his back in a pool of blood, with his arms spread out on either side. There was what appeared to be a bullet mark in his left cheek.

Chechen rebels acknowledged his death was a great blow but would not halt the separatist cause. Maskhadov's envoy Akhmed Zakayev told Reuters in London the rebels would name a successor within days, but he gave no hint as to who this would be.

"A special operation was carried out by us in the village of Tolstoy-Yurt as a result of which the international terrorist and leader of the rebel group Aslan Maskhadov was killed," FSB Security Service chief Nikolai Patrushev told Putin.

Tolstoy-Yurt is 20 km (12 miles) north of Grozny.

The armed campaign led by Maskhadov brought bombings to the very heart of Russia. But many commentators viewed him as a moderate leader and a possible negotiator with the Kremlin though this view was rejected by Moscow.

The phlegmatic Putin, shown on television with Patrushev, appeared to take news of Maskhadov's death calmly, telling his security chief to double-check the identity of the body.

But the demise of Maskhadov, who had a $10 million bounty on his head after being linked by Russian forces to a string of deadly rebel attacks, was welcome news for the Kremlin chief who has suffered many setbacks in pursuing a tough line in Chechnya.

Ten months ago the Kremlin-backed president of the rebel region, Akhmad Kadyrov, was assassinated in a bomb attack and a low-level war continues to take Russian and Chechen lives daily.

Putin said once Maskhadov's death was confirmed FSB troops involved in the operation should receive a state award.

Authorities blamed Maskhadov for operations including an attack on a Moscow theater, a bombing near the Kremlin and a massacre last year at a school in the south Russian town of Beslan. At least 326 hostages -- half of them children -- died at the school in Beslan.

He himself however denied links to many of the high-profile Chechen operations, blaming Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev.

Maskhadov was elected president of Chechnya during a three-year period in the late 1990s when the region enjoyed de facto independence.

HUNT FOR BASAYEV

With the death of Maskhadov, Russian forces will be eager now to capture or kill Basayev, who claimed responsibility for Beslan and is regarded as Russia's Public Enemy No. 1.

Army spokesman Ilya Shabalkin told Russian news agencies that Maskhadov had been hiding in a reinforced cellar when he was killed.

Moscow has also linked Maskhadov and Basayev to groups that conducted attacks such as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Maskhadov repeatedly called for talks with Moscow on Chechen demands for independence, but the Kremlin refused to negotiate.

Last month he ordered a three-week cease-fire by his men in what he said was a gesture to show his desire for peace. Observers said the fact the truce held showed he was in command of his forces.

Russian leaders, fearing a breakaway by Chechnya could trigger secession moves by other regions in the sprawling federation, have fought two wars in Chechnya.

Tens of thousands were killed on both sides in the first conflict from 1994-96, when Maskhadov was commander-in-chief of rebel forces. Putin sent troops back into the territory in late 1999 to cement his image as a strong leader ahead of his election as president in 2000.

Moroccan Mounir el Motassadeq, who is accused of helping to plot the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, waits for the start of his retrial at a court in Hamburg, northern Germany, on Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2004. A U.S. investigator told the retrial of El Motassadeq on Tuesday, March 8, 2005 that Osama bin Laden personally approved the plot against the United States two years before the attacks. (AP Photo/Christof Stache, Pool)

Defense Wants Bush to Testify at German 9/11 Trial

HAMBURG, Germany (Reuters) - Lawyers for a Moroccan man accused in Germany of aiding and abetting the Sept. 11 attacks called Tuesday for President Bush to be summoned as a witness.

Lawyer Udo Jacob, defending accused Moroccan Mounir El Motassadeq, said Bush should be called to testify about accusations he granted the CIA powers to send terrorism suspects to foreign countries for interrogation.

The United States has already turned down a request for former CIA chief George Tenet to testify at Motassadeq's trial, and there is no prospect of Bush appearing in court.

But Jacob raised the issue to draw attention to the circumstances in which two al Qaeda leaders, whose evidence is central to the case, were captured and interrogated by the United States.

Washington has declined to allow the Hamburg court to question the two men, Ramzi bin al-Shaibah and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, but has made available summaries of information they revealed under questioning at unknown locations.

The defense alleges both key witnesses were probably tortured and the case against Motassadeq should therefore be dropped. "There is concern about torture during the questioning," Jacob said.

RETRIAL

Dietrich Snell, senior counsel with the U.S. commission that investigated the hijacked plane attacks in which nearly 3,000 people died on Sept. 11, 2001, said it had not been able to meet Mohammed or bin al-Shaibah directly.

He told the court the commission had submitted questions to be put to the men, but had no control over whether and how the questions were asked.

Snell also cast doubt on the reliability of bin al-Shaibah's comments which would seem to exonerate Motassadeq.

"There were definitely attempts by bin al-Shaibah to exonerate people, including Motassadeq," he said, adding the commission did not consider these comments credible.

Motassadeq was one of a circle of Arab students living in Hamburg, where he knew bin al-Shaibah and others including Mohamed Atta, the man who crashed the first plane into the World Trade Center.

Mohammed told interrogators he had met Motassadeq in Karachi, Pakistan, when the Moroccan was on his way to an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan.

Motassadeq attracted worldwide attention in February 2003 when he became the first person anywhere to be convicted as an accessory in the Sept. 11 attacks. He was sentenced to 15 years in jail.

But he appealed and won a retrial last year after a higher court ruled that potentially important evidence from al Qaeda captives had not been made available by the United States.

General: U.S. had no sign of notice from Italians

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The top U.S. general in Iraq said today he has no indication that Italian officials gave advance notice of the route of a vehicle U.S. soldiers fired on last Friday, killing an Italian intelligence officer and wounding a rescued Italian journalist.

"I personally do not have any indication of that, even on a preliminary basis," Army Gen. George Casey told reporters at the Pentagon. He stressed that another officer, Brig. Gen. Peter Vangjel, is heading the investigation, which is expected to be carried out jointly with Italian officials.

Casey, who was in Washington for meetings at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill, said the investigation could be completed in three to four weeks.

One of the key unanswered questions is what, if anything, the Italians told the Americans beforehand about the convoy's movement to Baghdad International Airport.

Casey said he is not personally familiar with all the details of what may have led to the shooting. When asked if he would expect to be told if there were indications the Italians had informed U.S. forces in advance of the convoy's route, he replied, "I would hope so."

Italian intelligence officer Nicola Calipari was killed Friday when U.S. troops at a checkpoint fired at the car carrying him and freed Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena to the airport after Sgrena's release from a month in captivity.

Casey declined to say what kind of charges might be brought against any U.S. troops involved.

"We are working closely with the Italians on their participation in the investigation," Casey said.

At another point, in response to questions about whether he had known the Italians were negotiating for Sgrena's release, Casey said, "I don't have any information about the Italians coming in here to do something with respect to the hostage."

In a statement released last Friday after the shooting, the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, which controls Baghdad, said the vehicle was "traveling at high speeds" and "refused to stop at a checkpoint."

A U.S. patrol "attempted to warn the driver to stop by hand and arm signals, flashing white lights, and firing warning shots in front of the car," it said. "When the driver didn't stop, the soldiers shot into the engine block which stopped the vehicle, killing one and wounding two others."

Italian officials have disputed the U.S. assertion that the vehicle was traveling quickly, and they have challenged other aspects of the official U.S. explanation of what happened.

Casey also said he was concerned by the fact that in addition to the killing of the Italian intelligence officer, a Bulgarian soldier slain last week in Iraq also may have been hit by U.S. gunfire.

"It's another unfortunate incident," he said. "Again, both the Bulgarians and us are looking into exactly what happened up during that period, and we'll get to the bottom of it."