MOSCOW (AP) – The Chechen-backed Kremlin-backed leader said Wednesday that his forces have killed six suspected militants, including a warlord accused of staging a 2011 suicide attack on Moscow airport.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the regional leader of Chechnya, said troops under his command had tracked down suspects in the village of Qatar-Yurt and killed them on the spot. Kadyrov claimed that the raid meant the elimination of the last remaining group of militants in the region.
“All the underground bands in Chechnya have been eliminated,” Kadyrov said on his blog. He added that the security sweep had been planned a long time ago and followed two previous unsuccessful attempts to pursue the militants.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin called to congratulate Kadyrov, who personally participated in the security sweep.
Kadyrov said that among those killed was warlord Aslan Byutukayev, whom Russian authorities accused of taking part in the January 2011 suicide bombing in the arrivals area of Moscow’s Domodedovo airport. which killed 37 people.
Umarov, who also claimed several other attacks in Russia, died in a security raid in 2013.
After Umarov’s death, Byutukayev became the leader of Chechen militants and swore allegiance to the Islamic State group. He has been on the list of Russians wanted for his involvement in the 2011 airport bombings and other attacks.
The Kremlin has relied on Kadyrov to stabilize Chechnya after two separatist wars in the 1990s and early 2000s and has provided generous subsidies to help rebuild the region.
International human rights groups have accused Kadyrov of rampant rights abuses, including arbitrary detentions and extrajudicial killings by his dreaded security forces.
Despite Kadyrov’s relentless crackdown on alleged extremists, some of whom have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group, militants have continued to launch sporadic attacks on Chechnya and other regions of Russia’s North Caucasus.