Free Republic

MOSCOW — After every suicide attack in Russia — and they are increasingly commonplace — his name is whispered by a nervous public. ''Was it Shamil?'' someone always asks. The answer, more often than not, is yes. Little known in the West, Shamil Basayev is a household name in Russia, where he is often compared to another terror mastermind, Osama bin Laden. Like the al-Qaeda leader, Mr. Basayev is a charismatic figure with a deadly interpretation of Islam, who has managed to both avoid capture and strike fear into the residents of a major world capital. "They are both charismatic,...

A remote mine allegedly triggered by Chechen rebels killed five Russian soldiers Friday while troops were conducting a search operation in the breakaway republic, the Interior Ministry said Friday. The radio-controlled mine was detonated in the Vedeno region of southern Chechnya when an armored personnel carrier full of Interior Minister troops rolled over the explosive device. The soldiers were killed immediately by the force of the blast, the ministry said. Five others were wounded. The Interior Ministry said it had stepped up control of its operations in Chechnya. Meanwhile in the Chechen capital Grozny, local police said that a small...

A Chechen separatist news agency said Saturday that Washington's designation of warlord Shamil Basayev as a terrorist amounted to its acceptance of part of the responsibility for atrocities in Chechnya. In a terse, irate statement published on the Kafkas.org web site, Agency Caucasus also ridiculed Washington's move to freeze any assets Basayev may have in the United States, saying the rebel fighter had no holdings in the country to begin with. Russia's enthusiastic praise of the U.S. action indicated its "happiness" that the United States was willing "to share the same responsibility for the Russian bloodshed and genocide in Chechnya,"...

Monday, Aug. 11, 2003. Page 2 Rebels Ridicule U.S. Move The Moscow Times A Chechen separatist news agency said Saturday that Washington's designation of warlord Shamil Basayev as a terrorist amounted to its acceptance of part of the responsibility for atrocities in Chechnya. In a terse, irate statement published on the Kafkas.org web site, Agency Caucasus also ridiculed Washington's move to freeze any assets Basayev may have in the United States, saying the rebel fighter had no holdings in the country to begin with. Russia's enthusiastic praise of the U.S. action indicated its "happiness" that the United States was willing...

Police in London have been put on their highest state of alert after warnings were received that an al-Qa'ida suicide attack may be imminent. Frontline officers in the capital are being given fresh instruction on spotting and tackling suicide bombers. Similar guidance is to be issued to officers in other large urban forces next month. The moves come after the FBI uncovered and passed on new intelligence that the threat was growing of an al-Qa'ida outrage in the capital. Senior officers were briefed on the threat a fortnight ago in a presentation at Scotland Yard's firearms unit. They are understood...

<p>Shamil Basayev received money for weapons and training from Osama bin Laden, the U.S. State Department alleges.</p> <p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Secretary of State Colin Powell designated the Chechen leader believed responsible for last year's hostage standoff in a Moscow theater as a threat to U.S. security Friday.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Colin Powell (search) on Friday designated Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev (search) a threat to the security of the United States and to U.S. citizens.</p> <p>Powell, in a notice in the Federal Register (search), said Basayev, 38, "has committed, or poses a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism" against U.S. interests.</p>

After leading Chechen rebels in two wars, mounting one of Russia's bloodiest terrorist attacks and claiming credit for many others, Shamil Basayev continues to elude Russian forces and even losing a leg to a land mine didn't take him out of action for long. The warlord's grim, decade-long record of killing both civilians and soldiers speaks of a fanatical determination and Russia has long alleged that this ferocity is bolstered by aid from international terrorist networks including al-Qaida. Washington joined in on Friday, declaring Basayev a global terrorist and a threat to the United States and moved to freeze any...

Chechen rebels claim responsibility for suicide attacks Leading Chechen rebel commander Shamil Basayev says separatist guerrillas under his command carried out the two suicide attacks that killed 78 people in the breakaway Russian republic last week. "Our martyrs' two sabotage attacks are only a small part of the operations we have planned for this year,'" Basayev said. The announcement has been made in a statement issued under his nom de guerre, Abdallah Shamil Abu-Idris, on the rebel Kavkaz Centre web site. Basayev says his brigade "carried out two successful sabotage operations against the Russian occupiers and their stooges - the...

Combined Reports Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev said Monday that his men were responsible for last week's suicide bombings in Chechnya, while separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov distanced himself from the violence. The attacks last Monday and Wednesday killed at least 77 people, mostly civilians. "By the grace of Allah, mujahedin fighters from our suicide ... brigade carried out two successful operations against the Russian occupiers and their local lackeys," Basayev said in a statement published by the Kavkaz Tsentr rebel web site. Basayev said the attacks were "a tiny part" of a new campaign against what the Kremlin calls its "anti-terrorist...

The Russian newspaper Izvestia reports that it has obtained a copy of an extract from the Russian Interior Ministry's decree "on the possibility of a terrorist act in Moscow". According to the document, the Moscow police have been bracing for another attack by Chechen rebels, which "will be on a larger scale" than the Moscow theater siege in October 2002. The head of the Moscow Department of the Federal Security Service, Viktor Zakharov, said at the Moscow government's meeting earlier this week: "We have recently received information, through Interpol, about the preparation of another large-scale terrorist attack in Moscow...

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...