Free Republic

One of the organizers of the Moscow theater siege in October 2002, Isa Dzhantayev, was killed in Chechnya on Tuesday night. The operation was carried out by the Russian Defense Ministry?s elite troops, Colonel Nikolai Baranov, a spokesman for the Russian troops in North Caucasus, told RBC. He said Isa Dzhantayev had been an active member of illegal armed units and a close aide of Chechen commander Movsar Barayev, who oversaw the hostage taking operation in the Moscow theater on October 23, 2002. Movsar Barayev and about 40 other terrorists were killed during the storm of the building by...

In his last interview, some 24 hours before he was killed, Movsar Barayev sat slumped in a chair, peering at the camera with weary and dazed eyes. "Our group is called Islam's suicide brigade," said Barayev, who led the hostage operation. "Our goal -- and we have repeatedly declared it -- is to stop the war and remove [Russian] troops [from Chechnya]." Barayev, a nephew of slain guerrilla leader Arbi Barayev, said the hostage-taking was ordered by Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev. "We act on the order of our superior military emir ... Shamil Basayev," a stumbling Barayev told NTV at...

Nearly 700 hostages held in a Moscow theatre by Chechen rebels have been released in an operation by Russian special security forces. At the start of the operation, the chief hostage-taker, Movsar Barayev, was killed. The theatre has been brought entirely under the control of security forces. A number of Chechen rebels holding the hostages have been killed or arrested, Interfax news agency reported. PTI

GROZNY, OCTOBER 12, RIA NOVOSTI - On Saturday, the command of the Joint Group of Federal Forces in the North Caucasus officially confirmed death of Movsar Barayev, notorious leader of a terrorist grouping and nephew of cut-throat Arbi Barayev, who had been killed earlier. According to a deputy commander of the Joint Group, Lieutenant Colonel Boris Podoprigora, Movsar Barayev and his supporters were killed two days ago in the area of Komsomolskoye settlement as a result of pinpoint air and artillery strikes. Boris Podoprigora stressed that "federal forces are carrying out operations against local bandits and Gelayev's militants who could...