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MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) - A man resembling one of Chechnya's most powerful rebel warlords, Ruslan Gelayev, has been killed in a clash with federal troops in a neighboring province, officials said. Russian officials in the past repeatedly have reported Gelayev's death and the latest claim could not immediately be confirmed. The body of the man who appeared to be Gelayev was found Sunday in the mountains of Dagestan, which borders Chechnya to the east, said Muslim Tsurmilov, a spokesman for the local branch of the Federal Border Guard Service. A spokesman for the Federal Security Service's branch in southern Russia...

IN a video recording released today, renegade Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar urged Afghanistan's people to join a jihad, or holy war, against the US-led coalition and to drive "the occupying infidel forces" out of the country. The compact disc, containing a 22-minute speech by Hekmatyar, appeared to be authentic and recently made, since it mentioned current events such as US President George W Bush's visit to Iraq last month and last month's political unrest in Georgia, the former Soviet state. Wearing a simple wool hat and a black jacket, and sitting in front of a gray background in an...

KABUL, Aug 13 (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai stripped powerful warlord Ismail Khan of his post as military commander of western Afghanistan in a major reshuffle of provincial governors and officials, the state Bakhtar news agency and officials said on Wednesday. The National Security Council decided Khan could not retain his post as military commander while governor of Herat province it said, citing a decree by Karzai who said earlier this year that officials could not hold both military and civil posts. A new Herat military commander would be named shortly, Bakhtar said. Human rights organisations have accused...

ISLAMABAD: The United States has declared Pashtun Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar as a global terrorist and ordered to freeze his worldwide assets. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Wednesday notified the declaration to all the interested countries, organisations and parties that, it is effective from February 18. The declaration obtained by The News says that Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's name has been added to the list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. Specifying different spellings of his name, the declaration gave his last known address in Iran. He has been included in the...

THE letters appeared overnight and their handwritten warning was stark. Nailed to trees and posted under doors in villages in southwestern Afghanistan, to be read out by elders, they proclaimed: “The time of the mujaheddin is coming. Those who stay with the Americans are infidels. Those who fight them will go to paradise.” In a country where few have radio or television, Xeroxed “night letters” are the closest thing to mass media. Several letters attacking women for baring their heads or sending their daughters to school have appeared since the fall of the Taliban in December 2001. But the ones...

Bashir Baygzad, the security chief of the northern Afghan city of Sheberghan, told Radio Free Afghanistan on 15 January that the man who was arrested on 14 January as he was allegedly preparing to assassinate General Abdul Rashid Dostum was working for the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Dostum is a powerful commander leading ethnic Uzbek forces who serves as deputy defense minister and as the presidential representative in northern Afghanistan. Baygzad identified the alleged would-be assassin as a 27-year-old man from the Chahardarah district of Kunduz Province who recently moved to Kabul. Baygzad added that the arrested suspect said during his...

Afghan warlord's forces bombed after attacking US troops A B-52 bomber has been called into combat in Afghanistan to protect US special forces battling a local warlord's troops outside their base. No American soldiers were injured during Sunday's shoot-out in western Afghanistan, but at least 11 Afghans were killed in the fighting. The battle began when a group of special forces patrolling outside Shindand airbase stopped a group of armed men on the roadside. When the patrol stopped, the Afghans opened fire. US military spokesman Colonel Roger King said the Americans returned fire, then called for air support while making...

Warlord warns of attacks on Russia 24 November 2002 MOSCOW: The Chechen warlord who says he was behind last month's mass hostage-taking in Moscow has warned his group will launch new strikes in Russia if it does not pull its troops out of Chechnya. Chechen rebel commander Shamil Basayev, Russia's public enemy number one, told NATO leaders in an open letter that they should put pressure on Moscow to pull out of the Muslim North Caucasus territory and start peace negotiations. "Chechen Mujahideen have a full right and possibilities to carry out strikes on the territory of the aggressor country,...

Friday, 1 November, 2002, 22:11 GMT Chechen warlord claims theatre attack Basayev lost a leg when he stepped on a Russian mine Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev has taken responsibility for the mass hostage-taking at a Moscow theatre 10 days ago and promised new attacks. He also tendered his resignation from the rebel leadership and asked rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov for his forgiveness for not informing him of the operation. People without any demands, who will not be taking anyone hostage, will come next time Shamil Basayev Russia accuses Mr Maskhadov of orchestrating the attack himself and is demanding the extradition...