Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (AP) -- Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov, whom Russian officials claim was a key figure behind last year's school hostage crisis and other deadly terrorist acts, has been killed, a spokesman for Russian forces said Tuesday. One report said Maskhadov was killed accidentally by his bodyguards.
Col. Ilya Shabalkin said Maskhadov was killed during a "special operation,'' but he did not elaborate.
The Interfax news agency later quoted Shabalkin as saying Maskhadov had been killed in Tolstoy-Yurt, a village in the northern sector of Chechnya that generally has been under the tight control of Russian forces.
Interfax, citing Chechnya's Kremlin-backed deputy prime minister, Ramzan Kadyrov, also reported that Russian forces intended to take Maskhadov alive, but he was killed by careless weapons-handling by his bodyguards. Three of Maskhadov's closest associates were detained, Interfax reported.
Kadyrov also reportedly said he had planned that Maskhadov would surrender and be offered a high-ranking position in his own security force.
Television channel NTV showed footage of Federal Security Service head Nikolai Patrushev telling President Vladimir Putin that Maskhadov had been killed in Tolstoy-Yurt.
Putin responded, "There is a lot of work here. We must augment the effort aimed at the defense of the citizens of the republic.''
The channel also showed footage of a shirtless bearded corpse that resembled Maskhadov.
