Moscow Claims Three Muslim Brothers Killed In Chechnya
MOSCOW, May 15 (IslamOnline
& News Agencies) - A Russian intelligence agency said Tuesday three members of what it calls the "Muslim Brotherhood" have been killed this week in clashes with Chechen separatists, AFP reported.
There was no independent confirmation of the report. Russia's official media has routinely said Chechen fighters were part of an international "terrorist" organization that included other groups in different parts of the world.
Chechen separatists have denied previous allegations and said they were part of a Russian propaganda campaign to discredit their freedom movement.
News agencies quoted an official with the Russian FSB, formerly known as KGB, as saying the men were involved in "terrorist acts," but did not give details of where or how they were killed. The official did not specify their nationality.
In October, the FSB claimed that similar activists carried out operations in Russia and in other ex-Soviet countries, grouped in the 12-nation Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
News agencies said a Chechen Internet site claimed that the Chechens lost 13 men over the past month in clashes with Russian troops. The separatists, who are fighting Russia to win independence for Chechnya said Moscow ran losses of more than 100 during the same period.
On Wednesday, news agencies quoted a report from ITAR-TASS as saying that Russian troops killed seven Chechen fighters in Chechnya.
Confrontations between Russian federal forces and Chechen fighters are reported most days despite official Russian claims that the situation in Chechnya is returning to normal.
Russian troops intervened massively in Chechnya in October 1999. And a projected scaling down of the military presence in Chechnya announced in January has been halted with only 5,000 Russian troops withdrawn out of total effective of around 80,000 men.
In January, Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to start removing troops from the republic, and handing the operation's command over to the Federal Security Services (FSB).
But his efforts have reportedly run into difficulties as Russian generals appear to support a heavier military presence in Chechnya than the pro-Moscow administrators in the separatist province.
Moscow's own estimates of the number of armed Muslim separatists in the province also vary, with most generals placing the separatist force anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000.
