Russia: Russia said yesterday that the Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev had been killed in an explosion that is a major blow to the seven-year-old rebellion.
Basayev gained notoriety around the world in 2004 when he took responsibility for the massacre of 320 staff and children at Beslan High School.
Russian media reported that he died when a truck he was using to transport explosives exploded on a country road in Ingushetia, a province near Chechnya.
News of the attack was given by the chief of the security service, the FSB, Nikolai Patrushev.
In a televised meeting with Mr Patrushev, Russian president Vladimir Putin said Basayev's death was "deserved retribution" for Beslan and other attacks.
Mr Patrushev told Mr Putin that rebels had intended to use the explosive-laden truck to stage a bombing that would "put political pressure on the Russian leadership" during the G8 summit being held this weekend in St Petersburg.
There were conflicting accounts of whether the truck was blown-up by special forces raiding the area, or simply by accident.
First news of the explosion came in the morning when agencies in Moscow reported the accidental detonation of a truck bomb that had killed four militants. Hours later Basayev's remains were identified and security forces realised they had a major triumph.
Ingush deputy prime minister Bashir Aushev said Basayev had been in a car accompanying the truck, and that his body had been identified "through some of the fragments, including his head". TV pictures yesterday showed the remains of the truck, Basayev's burned-out car, and the destroyed farm buildings the vehicles had been passing in the village of Ekazhevo.
Basayev (41) has been the military commander of Chechen rebel forces since the first war against Russia in the mid-1990s.
He had his foot blown off by a mine in 2000 and survived countless attempts to corner him by Russian special forces.
His death comes the year after the main Chechen political leader, former president Aslan Maskhadov, was killed in a special forces raid.
And it leaves a political vacuum among the separatist movement which may be unable to find a single leader capable of asserting authority over the clan-based rebel units.
Basayev was a skilled political operator, getting finance and volunteers from al-Qaeda-affiliated organisations in the Middle East.
The leader most likely to fill Basayev's shoes is Doku Umarov, who became the rebel's political boss following the killing by police of Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev, who had himself replaced the assassinated Maskhadov.
Mr Umarov pledged last month to step-up operations against Russian forces and may hope to combine the roles of both Basayev and Maskhadov. There was no word on the future of the war or Basayev's death on the main rebel mouthpiece, a website named kavkaz.com. It said: "The Chechen command is not yet making any commentaries or declarations."