Free Republic

Rather than the January 24th suicide bombing at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport (that claimed 36 lives and wounded almost 200) giving rise to a soul searching by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, it has sadly given rise to hypocrisy on his part. Moscow’s investigation into the attack is still ongoing. But earlier this month, in a very chilling video, Doku Umarov—the self-styled emir of the Causasus Emirate—claimed responsibility for it.Threatening further attacks, Umarov said, "With Allah's grace, we will make this year for you a year of blood and tears."

Russian security forces dealt a double blow to the al Qaeda-linked Caucasus Emirate during operations in the southern Russian republics late last week. Emir Magas, the military commander of the Caucasus Emirate, was captured and Yasir Amarat, a wanted terrorist commander from Jordan, was killed during raids by Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB. On June 9, the FSB captured Emir Magas, whose real name is Ali Taziyev, during a raid in the village of Malgobek in the Republic of Ingushetia. Kavkaz Center, a jihadist website that supports the Caucasus Emirate, confirmed Magas' capture and noted his importance. Magas has...

A fascinating piece by Andrew Higgins and Alan Cullison recently appeared in The Wall Street Journal [July 2] with the title: “How a Secret, Failed Trip to Chechnya Turned Key Plotter’s Focus to America and bin Laden.” The key plotter in this case was 9/11 mastermind and bin Laden’s Egyptian lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The article’s title suggests that Zawahiri’s failure to settle in Chechnya (due to his “detention” by the KGB/FSB in 1996-97) led him to Afghanistan and an alliance with bin Laden. But according to ranking U.S. terrorism expert, Yossef Bodansky, Egyptian Jihad leader Zawahiri was preparing a massive...

Demise of Shamil BasayevBy Pyotr Romanov UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW -- Russia's latest Caucasian war appears to be over, and the killing of warlord Shamil Basayev is yet another serious argument in favor of this opinion. Individuals have always played a particularly important role in the Caucasus. Now that Basayev is dead, there is no one else in the region to hate Russia and despise life, his own and the lives of others, as much as he did. Basayev's formidable hatred of Russians was irrational, although he and others sometimes explained it by the logic of the life-or-death struggle...

Watching the ball drop, twirling a noisemaker, kissing your sweetheart, and making a resolution that rarely comes to pass -- everyone looks forward to the memory of a new year. But one group will be ringing in the New Year a little differently…through a children’s jihad retreat, with a guest speaker who exalts terrorists and another who is linked to al-Qaeda. The majority of Islamic organizations within the United States have, at one time or another, been cited for their connections to terrorism, whether by support of terror groups or through actual terrorist activity carried out by its members. Two...

The diehard gang of Muslim extremists responsible for last week's attack on the southern Russian city of Nalchik consisted mainly of local militants intent on creating a strict Islamic state independent of Moscow. The gunmen were not from Chechnya but belonged to a group from Kabardino-Balkaria, the Russian republic of which Nalchik is the capital, providing alarming evidence that - far from dying down as claimed by President Putin - the bloody Chechen conflict is spreading. Most of the gunmen were thought to be members of Yarmuk, a homegrown fundamentalist group that the local authorities twice claimed to have destroyed....

Russia says it is outraged by an interview with Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev broadcast on America's ABC television network. The Russian foreign ministry summoned a senior US diplomat in Moscow to express its "strong indignation" over the show. In the interview, the warlord, who had claimed the 2004 raid on a school in Beslan, admitted he was a terrorist but said the Russians were terrorists too. Russia's most wanted man also warned of further Beslan-type attacks. More than 320 people - around half of them children - were killed in the attack at the school in September.

GROZNY. March 9 (Interfax) - Now that Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov has been killed, the republic's presidential security service will focus on an operation aimed at detaining terrorist Shamil Basayev, Chechen First Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov told Interfax. "The elimination of Aslan Maskhadov will accelerate the process of establishing the whereabouts of Basayev and detaining him. Now we can pay twice as much attention to this problem, as previously we had to work in several directions," Kadyrov said. Basayev is extremely dangerous to society, and "terrorism is his way of living and his way of thinking. In...

LONDON, England (AP) -- Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, who claimed responsibility for last year's brutal terrorist attack on a Russian school, was quoted as saying Thursday that the separatist rebels are planning more such operations. In an interview with Channel 4 News to be broadcast Thursday night, part of which was quoted in Thursday's Times of London newspaper, Basayev expressed regret for the hundreds of deaths in the June hostage-taking attack on the school in the Russian town of Beslan. But he blamed some of the deaths on flame-throwers used by Russian special forces who attacked the school to end...

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia - Russian security forces killed an alleged top aide to radical Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev after he put up armed resistance to arrest, the Federal Security Service said Friday. Akhmed Sambiyev, known as the "White Arab," was killed late Thursday in a confrontation with police and security service officers in a private house in Ingushetia, a southern Russian region bordering on Chechnya, said Yuri Smolyaninov, a spokesman for the Ingush branch of the security service. Three security force officers were wounded in the operation to capture him in the Ingush city of Nazran, Smolyaninov said. Earlier, the...

When the Chechen terrorist mastermind Shamil Basayev hijacked hundreds of hostages including many schoolchildren in Beslan last week, it was not for a narrow nationalist cause. His objective is more radical - and less likely to be achieved - than the aims of more run-of-the-mill Chechen nationalists, who merely want full independence from Russia. He dreams of establishing an Islamic Emirate across the North Caucasus, and to do so, he has been fomenting the Islamic rebellion that plagues states across the broad stretch of territory from the Red Sea to the Caspian. As President Vladimir Putin waded through the cold...

Rebel Warlord Says His Group Carried Out Killing of Moscow-Backed Chechen Leader MOSCOW May 17, 2004 — A top rebel warlord has claimed responsibility for a bomb attack that killed Chechnya's Moscow-backed leader, Akhmad Kadyrov, and pledged to continue attacks against the Russian authorities, according to a statement released Monday. Warlord Shamil Basayev, who calls himself Abdullah Shamil Abu Idris, claimed responsibility for the May 9 attack in a statement that was posted Monday on a rebel Web site, calling it a "small, but important victory." He said that other such operations against Russia's so-called collaborators in Chechnya were in...

Chechnya: Blood, Corruption, Intrigue, And Extremist Islam By Paul M. Weyrich March 19, 2004 Name the Eurasian country where over 2,000 people have been killed or wounded at the hands of terrorists over the last sixteen months. If you named Russia, you picked right. I wonder how many people would have picked wrong. Russia's conflict with Chechnya is "foreign news" to many people in our country. It is viewed as having no real consequence since we haven't sent troops there. Chechnya is a small area. Many Americans hardly know its name, much less could locate it on a map. Many...

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,...

Chechen leaders seek to 'liquidate' warlord New government puts $5-million bounty on terrorist's head(Shamil) Basayev Peter Goodspeed National Post Tuesday, December 02, 2003 Adding to his reputation as the "Most Wanted Man in Russia," Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev is now the most hunted man in Chechnya. Yesterday, the head of the security police in Chechnya's new pro-Russian government went on television and announced a "group of Chechen businessmen" has offered a US$5-million bounty for any information that helps "neutralize" Mr. Basayev. Ramadan Kadyrov, son of Chechnya's recently elected President, Akhmad Kadyrov, and head of his father's security service, claimed Mr....

While most war crimes committed by Serb forces during the Balkan wars are being investigated and made public knowledge, the role played by Russian mercenaries kontraktniki [contract soldiers] deserves more attention. Many Russian citizens voluntarily fought in the Balkans for the government of Serbian President Slobodan Miloševiæ, committing a range of crimes along the way including mass murder, assault and battery, rape, robbery, and theft. Most, if not all, of these Russian kontraktniki war criminals have gone unidentified by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague – hence, so far, unpunished. As the Miloševiæ trial...

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...

Chechen Warlord Warns of Attacks on Russia Sat Nov 23, 1:00 PM ET By Richard Balmforth MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Chechen warlord who says he was behind last month's mass hostage-taking in Moscow warned on Saturday his group would launch new strikes in Russia if it did not pull its troops out of Chechnya (news - web sites). Chechen rebel commander Shamil Basayev, Russia's public enemy number one, told NATO (news - web sites) leaders in an open letter that they should put pressure on Moscow to pull out of the Muslim North Caucasus territory and start peace negotiations. "Chechen...

Statement of Chechen commander Shamil Basayev Posted on Saturday, November 02 @ 03:44:37 ICT on Voice Of Taliban Auzu billahi mina sheytani rajim, Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim Praise to Allah, the Lord of the worlds who have created us Muslims and blessed us with His Mercy Jihad in his straight path. Peace and Blessings to Muhammad, his family, his companions and to all those who follow him in straight path until the Dooms day. Reconnaissance - diversionary detachment of shaheeds «Riyadus-Salihin» conducted a successful operation in the very den of the enemy, in its very heart, in the city of Moscow....