Rebels blamed for Chechnya death

Russia has said the Chechen rebels are on the verge of being defeated

NAZRAN, Russia -- The Russian intelligence service has blamed Chechen rebels for an explosion that killed a high-ranking official.

The explosion tore ripped through a television studio in the village of Avtury, 30 kilometres (18 miles) southeast of the Chechen capital Grozny, as Adam Deniyev was taping a Quran reading for broadcast.

Deniyev died of head injuries, while a technician was wounded, a government spokesman said.

Deniyev served as a deputy to Akhmat Kadyrov, a Muslim clergyman who heads Russia's civilian administration in the region, where Russian troops are fighting Chechen independence rebels.

Deniyev was a presidential candidate in the 1997 Chechen elections won by rebel commander Aslan Maskhadov.

Federal Security Service spokesman Alexander Zdanovich said Maskhadov had Deniyev killed under pressure from the rebel warlord Khattab, who goes by only one name.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Kadyrov said Maskhadov had frequently threatened Deniyev.

"He hasn't let one (media) appearance go by without referring to Kadyrov and Deniyev," Kadyrov was quoted as saying by the ITAR-Tass news agency.

He added that it was "absolutely well-known that Maskhadov was the one who ordered the crime."

Witnesses said the explosion occurred in the top of the building, indicating either that a shell had hit it or that a bomb had been planted in the roof.

Chechen rebels have frequently targeted local administration officials, whom they accuse of betrayal. Kadyrov has survived several assassination attempts.

Russian troops entered Chechnya in autumn 1999 after a series of bombings in three Russian cities that killed about 300 people, and after Chechnya-based rebels invaded a neighbouring Russian region.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Russian Government
Chechen Republic Online
Human Rights Watch: Chechnya

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