Checen warlord claims militant attacks in Nalchik
17/10/2005 - 10:03:46Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev claimed he managed the militant attacks in the southern Russian city of Nalchik that officials say left at least 139 people dead, according to a statement posted on a Chechen rebel-connected website.
Previous statements on the Kavkaz Centre website said last week’s attacks were carried out by militants affiliated with the Chechen rebels, but today’s statement was the first claim of a direct Basayev connection.
“I carried out the general operative management,” Basayev said, according to the website. He said the attacks in Nalchik, the capital of the Kabardino-Balkariya republic, were launched by fighters in the republic’s section of the so-called Caucasus Front, which is believed to include militant cells throughout the restive Caucasus region.
