Posted on 09/08/2004 7:14:03 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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| The two leaders have been wanted by Russia for years |
Russia has offered 300m roubles ($10m) for information leading to the arrest of Chechen rebel leaders Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov, reports say. Security services want any information that could help to "neutralise" the two following the Beslan school siege.
In a separate development, the president of North Ossetia has said the republic's government will resign.
Alexander Dzasokhov told protesters that ministers would step down within two days.
He said he was also considering his own position.
The announcement came as Beslan residents buried more of the 335 people killed in the bloody end to the siege.
The BBC's Jonathan Charles in Beslan says the resignations may go some way to assuaging the many residents who believe the security services and government did not do enough to protect the school.
The burials are fuelling the fury and the belief that the parents, children and teachers who were held hostage were let down badly by the authorities, our correspondent says.
Russia plans to launch pre-emptive strikes on bases used for training militants, a senior general said earlier.
"We will carry out all measures to liquidate terrorist bases in any region of the world," Gen Yuri Baluevsky was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
"However, this does not mean that we will launch nuclear strikes."
The combined statements from the army and from the intelligence service suggest Russia's leadership is looking towards a military and not a political response to the string of attacks, says the BBC's Steven Eke in Moscow.
The two rebel leaders attracting offers of rewards from the Federal Security Bureau have been wanted by Russian authorities for years in connection with various attacks in Russia.
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Mr Maskhadov was elected president of Chechnya in 1997, but Moscow now considers him a terrorist.
His spokesman Akhmed Zakayev has said rebels loyal to Mr Maskhadov had no part in the school siege he called a "barbaric act of terrorism".
He blamed the attack on "local radical groups" and warned that President Putin's "punitive policy" in the region would make a "repeat of the Beslan tragedy inevitable".
Mr Basayev is a Chechen field commander, accused of masterminding operations and known for his extreme brutality.
He led the first Chechen mass hostage-taking in the southern Russian town of Budyonnovsk in 1995 and he claimed to have organised the seizing of a Moscow theatre in 2002, during which some 130 people died.
"For many years Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov, the leaders of illegal armed groups, staged inhuman acts of terrorism on the territory of the Russian Federation, which involved a tremendous loss of life," the security services said.
They called "for the information on their whereabouts, which could help neutralise those criminals. Anonymity and security are guaranteed".
Pope John Paul II has expressed outrage at the killing of children in the siege, condemning "cruel fanaticism" and an "insane contempt" for their lives.
Dramatic video footage shot inside the school has been shown on Russian TV.
The NTV station said the video was recorded by the assailants during the first minutes or hours of the crisis.
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| Map of the North Caucasus |
It shows harrowing pictures of hundreds of petrified hostages sitting on the floor of the school gym, with heavily armed and masked hostage takers standing over them.
What appeared to be explosives are strung on wires from the basketball hoops and more wires are trailed across the gymnasium.
Investigators are still working on identifying about 100 bodies recovered from the rubble in Beslan, Russian news agencies report.
The town's children were celebrating the start of the new school year with parents and staff a week ago when they were taken hostage. The crisis ended in massive bloodshed on Friday after bombs inside the building went off.
They are muslim terrorists!
They're not rebels, they are " Terrorists" !!!!
Don't blame me. I did not write the title. It's from BBC. You know which way they lean.:)
Oh lordy, no...I wasn't blaming you in any way....but the MSM constantly refers to these animals as rebels when they are terrorists....unbelievable.
They could pass the hat, and I'll bet even in this country, they could double the bounty. Of course, France and Germany would be appalled, which is their right.
Still, I wish the BBS et al would at least learn the English language well enough to report on things like these. Monsters who rape and kill babies are not "rebels"--they're terrorists. "Monsters" would also apply.
May Basayev be caught quickly and easily.
Good News.
"However, this does not mean that we will launch nuclear strikes."
Bad News.
They are Muslim Baby Killers.
Basayev was a paratrooper in the Soviet Army, and trained as a special operative by GRU under the Russian Ministry of Defense and worked for the Russians in Abkhazia. Later he went back to Chechnya and did the same thing. He is the creation of Moscow. Read more about him here http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1207097/posts?page=78#78
When they get rabies put them down.
Where's the Aticus Finch in all of us?(To Kill a Mockingbird)
And may he endure pain that only Russian interrogators can inflict.
Someone in Moscow has included Aslan Maskhadov in this hunt. As always the Russians are increasing the problems instead of solving them. In the end they need to find a political solution, thus they need Maskhadov.
However, Basayev and his Salafist friends can be terminated.
The corrupt, incompetent Russian bureaucracy has wested interests in a continuation of the war in Chechnya. There is a lot of money involved. My guess is that they will continue to kill the moderate leaders in Chechnya and thus increase the support and influence of the Wahhabis that have hijacked the century long opposition to Russia in the region. Exactly what the Saudi supported terrorists have on their agenda.
Read a 4 year old article about Maskhadov.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/459302.stm
I will probably get opposition from the Russian/Serbian Orthodox part of the FR. Wait and see.
They ALREADY tested this "solution". Under misbegotten reign of Maskhadov, Saudi Wahabis settled in Chechnya, Sharia law and slave trade was established, and the province became a staging ground for further incursions.
Sure. Go to Google and enter the following keywords:
Lebed Chechnya peace
Pics of Maskhadov. even in planning sessions of rebels with Basayev, are all over Kavkaz. Corrupt puppet liar. But promote and trust whomever you like.
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