To kill Gelayev and die (More info)

Russian Journal ^ | March 02, 2004

[RussianConservative]

MAKHACHKALA - Chechen warlord Ruslan Gelayev has been killed in a clash with two border guards in the mountains of Dagestan, the Federal Security Service confirmed on Monday. The body of the notorious field commander was found in the snow some 100 meters away from the bodies of two soldiers he had killed before the end.

One of the most infamous Chechen filed commanders - Ruslan (also known as Khamzat) Gelayev was killed in the mountains of Dagestan on Saturday. On Monday Gelayev’s body was brought to Makhachkala, where two captured rebels from Gelayev’s group positively identified it as their former commander’s.

The first to report on Gelayev’s extermination were the sources in the border guard troops. The North-Caucasian regional department of border guard service in Makhachkala followed with their confirmation a short time later. “Gelayev was exterminated on Saturday by a border guard detail in the mountains of Dagestan on the Avaro-Kakheti motorway, leading to Georgia,” a spokesman for the department said.

Sources in the border guard service have confirmed that Gelayev was killed in clash with a border guard detail that included but two fighters. Both soldiers were killed in the shootout. “The report is 100 per cent credible. The border guards killed Gelayev in an armed clash, with two servicemen being killed,” the source said.

Russian news agency first reported of the mysterious death of two border guards in the early hours of Monday. A reconnaissance unit discovered their bodies on Sunday, some 5 kilometers away from village Bezhta in the Tsunti district of Dagestan. The border guards, First Sergeant Suleimanov and Sergeant Kurbanov, died from gunshot wounds. The troops who discovered their bodies noticed that the guards still had their rifles on them, though had the patrol been attacked by the rebels the weapons would have most likely been stolen.

Not far from the place where the border guards’ bodies were found a dead body of an unknown man was discovered. The dead had a rifle with ammunition, a hand grenade and some Wahhabi literature on him.

Within 24 hours the dead rebels was identified as Ruslan Gelayev.

Still reports of Gelayev’s death, given how many times he was reported dead before, sounded scarcely credible. Proceeding from official reports Ruslan Gelayev hit the road on Saturday evening carrying nothing but his rifle, a book and a hand grenade and headed, all by himself, to Georgia along the Avaro-Kakheti motorway.

As he was passing Bezhta he confronted two Russian bodyguards. Gelayev opened fire at the soldiers instantly killing one of them and seriously wounding the other, but the wounded soldier fired back, almost severing the warlord’s arm with a burst from his assault rifle. Gelayev managed to finish the soldier who wounded him, but died of blood loss very soon after the fight.

The previous widespread report of Gelayev's death came after officials accused him of leading a band of rebels that killed nine border guards during a foray in Dagestan's mountains near the border with Chechnya in December. Then the military claimed Gelayev was killed in an avalanche.

Gelayev, 39, gained notoriety during the first war of the past decade between federal forces and separatist Chechen rebels, in 1994-96. He also played a prominent role in the second war, which began in September 1999, leading numerous raids and ambushes against the federal forces.

Details about Gelayev's past are sketchy. He has three criminal convictions from Soviet times and once served as defense minister and deputy prime minister in the government of Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov.

Gelayev is believed to have long been the most independent of all Chechen warlords, acting separately from Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev.

[marron]

My condolences to the families of the soldiers. My congratulations to their units. Good news purchased at the ultimate price.