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Top Chechen rebel killed

Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW: Russian security forces killed the self-declared Chechen rebel leader on Saturday, Chechnya's Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov said. The so-called President of Ichkeria (the name separatists gave Chechnya), Abdul-Khalim Saidullayev, was killed in a special operation in his home town of Argun in Chechnya, Russian news agency reported quoting Mr. Kadyrov. "The terrorists have practically been beheaded," Mr. Kadyrov said. "They have been dealt a decisive blow from which they will never recover." He said security forces had been tipped off about the rebel leaders' whereabouts by one of his men who needed money to buy drugs. Two policemen were killed in a gun battle with Saidullayev and his bodyguards. Saidullayev was preparing a series of terrorist attacks in Argun timed to coincide with a G8 summit in St. Petersburg next month, Mr. Kadyrov said. Saidullayev proclaimed himself President after rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov was killed by Russian forces in March 2005.

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