HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ---------------------------
Manchester Muslim killed in Chechen war ============================= 'Teacher' who joined jihad and rose through rebel ranks dies in ambush by Russian special forces Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow Thursday July 18, 2002 The Guardian A man who claimed to be a former PE teacher from Manchester has been killed fighting in southern Chechnya, in an ambush by Russian special forces, according to a Chechen separatist website. Kavkaz.org reported that Amir Assadullah died when Russian forces attacked the group of rebels he was leading in Vedeno region at the weekend. Assadullah, a young man of African descent with a thick Mancunian accent, was the focus of a video apparently aimed at recruiting new fighters from sympathetic countries. It was released by the Russian government last year as evidence that foreign mercenaries were acting as "international terrorists" in Chechnya. British officials said last night that they have had no success in proving Assadullah's nationality, despite "lengthy efforts". Nor have community leaders in Manchester been able to confirm Assadullah's British past. The officials added that at the time of the video's release they were sceptical of Russian claims that several dozen Britons had been recruited by to fight in Chechnya by an organisation in London called al-Muhajiroun. The video showed Assadullah holding a Kalashnikov and sitting cross-legged in the Chechen undergrowth, pleading with fellow British Muslims to join the jihad against Russian forces in Chechnya. "You tell your family that you might not come back," he said during the 15-minute rant in which he spoke of leaving his family in Manchester to join the war. "You come here and you burn your bridges." On Tuesday the Chechen website said: "Amir Assadullah has become a shakhid [a martyr]. "He was an ethnic African and a British citizen who came to Chechnya in 1996 as a volunteer. He was the only ethnic African in the Chechen army." It added that several other fighters in his group were killed in the confrontation with Russians. The rest fled to the mountains. The news came as the Russian defence minister, SergeiIvanov, told reporters in Oslo that Russia would cut back the "excess" of its troop presence in Chechnya by the end of the year. "The workload on the armed forces in Chechnya continues to decrease and is being increasingly shifted on to special and police units," he said. But Russian forces in the region continue to suffer heavy casualties: three died in an attack on Tuesday. Russian officials refused to confirm that Assadullah was killed. "We have no reliable facts proving this rebel leader's death," a military source said. The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that Assadullah had been fighting for several years under the Jordanian born guerrilla leader Khattab, whom the Russian security service, the FSB, claimed to have assassinated earlier this year with a poisoned letter. According to the Chechen website, Assadullah became a Muslim in the mid-90s and went to Chechnya in 1996, rising quickly through the rebel ranks to become a field commander. The video showed him enjoying the violent, rugged life of a rebel in the Chechen mountains. In recent months Assadullah's group has stationed in the south, near the regions of Vedeno and Nozhai-Yurt, where much of the recent heavy fighting has been. Assadullah's involvement in Chechnya was revealed by Russian officials in February after a number of videotapes were seized in Chechnya which detailed the rebels' activities. FSB officers believe the tapes were made to assure European fundraisers for the jihad that their money was well spent. Copies of the tape featuring Assadullah were given to the British authorities, and the Observer, by Sergei Yastrzhembsky, President Putin's spokesman on Chechnya. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
