Former Chechen President Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, wanted in Russia for ties with al-Qaeda, killed Friday after an explosion ripped apart his car in the Qatari capital of Doha, the Qatati Interior Ministry said.
Yandarbiyev died in the 12:45 p.m. blast, which also wounded his 13-year-old son, an official at the ministry told the Qatar News Agency.
A doctor at Hamad General Hospital said Yandarbiyev's son was in critical condition.
The Interior Ministry was investigating the incident, the news agency said.
Russia has been seeking the extradition of Yandarbiyev, who has been living in Qatar for more than three years. He was considered a key link in the Chechen rebels' finance network, channeling funds from abroad, The AP reported.
Boris Labusov, a spokesman for Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, a top KGB successor, said his agency had no involvement in Yandarbiyev's death, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.
The Interfax news agency quoted Chechnya's Russia-backed President Akhmad Kadyrov as saying, "Yandarbiyev was the main ideologue of the separatists, and therefore of the terrorist organizations bringing Chechnya to such severe consequences. He is guilty of everything that has happened." (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
