Sunday, April 18, 2004
Commander Of Arab Fighters In Chechnya Killed
Source: IslamOnline


RIYADH, April 18 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Abdul Aziz Al-Ghamdi, the commander of Arab fighters in Chechnya, has been killed, a family member confirmed Sunday, April 18.

A brother of Ghamdi, aka Abul Walid, said the family had received news of his martyrdom Sunday morning, but did not say how the 34-year-old commander had died, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The Saudi website Islam Today said Ghamdi had "been hit in the back" while preparing for prayers on Friday, April 16, adding the incidents took place in one of the camps of the mujahedeen fighting the Russian occupation forces in Chechnya.

The brother, who asked not to be named, told AFP the family were receiving condolences at their home.

He said Abul Walid, who was married to a Chechen, had been in Chechnya for the past six years and had also fought then-Soviet forces in Afghanistan during the 1980s.

Chechnya's pro-Russian President Akhmad Kadyrov said he had no knowledge of the death.

"There are major special operations under way in Chechnya, in the regions of Vedeno, Nojay-Yurt and Chelkovskoy, but no information so far concerning the death of Abul Walid," Kadyrov was quoted as saying by Ria-Novosti news agency.

The agency quoted a Russian military source as saying that Ghamdi may have been killed in a missile attack in recent days.

"There is no information about his death, but the situation will become clearer in the coming days," the source said.

Abul Walid, succeeded Arab commander Khattab, also Saudi-born, after he was killed two years ago.

Khattab, whose real name was Thamer bin Saleh al-Suwailem, and who fought with Arab fighters against Moscow's troops in Chechnya, was killed in March 2002.

Russia's intelligence agency FSB, the former KGB, said the following month that it had killed Khattab during an undercover operation that lasted more than a year and played on internal divisions among Chechen fighters.

According to Chechen fighters, Khattab died five minutes after receiving a poisoned letter, which had been delivered by a messenger known to him.

Russia claimed Khattab had links to Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.

A Chechen group later said its members killed the man blamed for the slaying of Khattab.

The small mountainous republic of Chechnya has been ravaged by conflict since 1994, with just three years of relative peace after the first war between Russian forces and Chechen fighters ended in August 1996 and the second broke out in October 1999.

At least 100,000 civilians and 10,000 Russian troops are estimated to have been killed in both wars, but human rights groups have said the real numbers could be much higher.

Last October, human rights groups accused the West of ignoring blatant and state-sanctioned abuses in Russia for the sake of improving relations with President Vladimir Putin.

The U.N. Human Rights Committee slammed in a panel on November 7 the ill-treatment of detainees under interrogation, executions and torture in the republic of Chechnya.

[http://www.islamtoday.net/albasheer/show_news_content.cfm?id=27889]