MOSCOW (AP) – The Kremlin-backed leader in Chechnya said on Wednesday that his forces had killed six suspected militants, including a war commander accused of staging a 2011 suicide attack at a Moscow airport.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the regional leader of Chechnya, said troops under his command were pursuing suspects in the village of Katar-Yurt and killing everyone on the spot. Kadyrov claimed that the raid marked the elimination of the last remaining group of militants in the region.
“All underground troops in Chechnya have now been eliminated,” Kadyrov said on his blog. He added that the security check was planned long ago and followed two previous unsuccessful attempts to hunt down the militants.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin had called to congratulate Kadyrov, who had personally participated in the security check.
Kadyrov said warlord Aslan Byutukayev, who was accused by Russian authorities of involvement in the January 2011 suicide bombing in the arrivals area of Moscow’s Domodedovo airport, which killed 37 people, was among those killed.
Umarov, who claimed responsibility for several other attacks in Russia, was killed 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 was on the Russian search list for his involvement in the 2011 airport bombing and other attacks.
The Kremlin relied on Kadyrov to stabilize Chechnya after two separatist wars in the 1990s and early 2000s and offered generous subsidies to help rebuild the region.
International human rights groups have accused Kadyrov of rampant rights abuses, including arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings by his dreaded security forces.
Despite Kadyrov’s relentless crackdown on extremist suspicions, some of whom swore allegiance to the Islamic State group, militants continued to launch sporadic attacks in Chechnya and other parts of Russia’s North Caucasus.