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July 16, 2006

Russia: Islamist Informant Helped Kill Basayev

We reported on the death of Shamil Basayev (pictured), the Islamist leader in Chechnya, on July 10. He was killed in an explosion in Ingushetia, but there were contradictory accounts from Russian authorities. Initially, they had said that a truck carrying explosives had blown up spontaneously. Initially, they only knew that Tarkhan Ganizhev, a close associate of Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov, had been killed in the blast.

But when it became clear that Shamil Basayev, the notorious "butcher of Beslan" was among the dead, the story changed. The explosion was claimed as the work of a targeted missile strike, according to a report on Russia's Channel One TV.

Now, it appears that the story has changed again, according to the Times. It appears that the security forces had paid a member of Basayev's Chechen rebel resistance to betray the leader. The amount paid was 250,000 pounds, or $459,052.

The new claim appears in Komsomolskaya Pravda, attributed to Viktor Baranyets, a defense commenter and former official at Russia's defense ministry. He said: "The security forces are being very tight-lipped about how Basayev was killed but after dozens of calls I have established through intelligence sources that he was betrayed by one of his own men."

The FSB, the military intelligence, had learned that Basayev had planned to explode a truck bomb at the HQ of the Interior Ministry in Nazran, in Ingushetia.

As Basayev and others escorted the explosives laden truck in a convoy, the double agent set off a mine which was on the vehicle. The truck carried 100 rocket-propelled grenades, two grenade-launchers and 13,000 rounds of ammunition.

Basayev was apparently traveling in a car in the convoy. His head was ripped off in the explosion.The Chechen rebels have promoted the view first expounded by the Russian authorities, that their leader was killed in an accidental detonation of the truck's contents.

According to Interfax-religion, Basayev had a prayer book on what remained of his body.

A correspondent from Moskovsky Komsomolets visited the site of the blast, and reported on Friday that a burnt pocket-sized prayer book in Arabic, called The Strength of the Muslim was found at the scene. Apparently it had been always worn by Basayev, tucked under his belt. The prayer book was wrapped inside a page from a sniper manual.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at July 16, 2006 1:48 PM

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