|
Basayev Claims Beslan, Blames Bloodbath on Putin
|
|
Basayev is Russia’s number one enemy (AFP)
|
MOSCOW
, September 17 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Chechen commander
Shamil Basayev reportedly claimed responsibility Friday, September 17,
for the deadly school hostage taking in southern
Russia
, but put the blame on Russian President Vladimir Putin for the killing
of more than 330 people, half of them children, according to a message
posted on a website.
Rebels
commanded by Basayev have “carried out a series of successful military
operations," including "the operation in the town of
Beslan,” according to a letter allegedly signed by the 39-year-old and
posted on the rebel website kavkazcenter.com, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
The
authenticity of the message could not be immediately verified, but
Chechen fighters often post their statements on the site.
Russia
considers the Chechen leader its public enemy number one and has offered
a
10 million-dollar reward both for Basayev and Chechen president
chased by
Moscow
, Aslan Maskhadov.
The
letter was posted two weeks after the two-day hostage taking at a school
in Beslan ended in a chaotic firefight between the kidnappers and
security forces that killed at least 339 people.
Putin
to Blame
|
|
Putin’s handling of the school tragedy drew ire inside and outside Russia |
The
message attributed to Basayev placed the ultimate blame for the carnage
on Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he said ordered the school to
be stormed.
“The
Kremlin bloodsucker
destroyed and injured 1,000 children and adults, having given
the order to storm the school for imperialist ambitions,” the letter
said.
“The
storming was initiated by
Russia
's security services,” it said.
Basayev
reportedly said his men had been ready to release their hostages if
their demands -- the withdrawal of Russian troops from
Chechnya
and the termination of the five-year-old war there -- were met.
He
also dismissed world-wide criticism of the hostage-taking, accusing the
world of adopting double standards when it came to the killing of
Chechen civilians during the Chechen war.
“We
ask the whole world: 'Ok, so we are bad guys ... who should be
destroyed. But why have ... thousands of peaceful (Chechen) civilians
been destroyed and continue to be destroyed to this day?”
“We
are being fought without any rules and with direct tolerance of the
whole world,” he said. “We are not bound by any obligations to
anyone and will fight as we see fit, according to our rules.”
“Today
when the whole world ‘with angry outrage’ is demanding that we stop,
we laugh and ask: ‘and what have you done for us that we should listen
to you?’”
Independence
for Security
|
|
The school hostage taking dealt a heavy blow to the Chechen cause |
Basayev
said that he had written a letter to Putin that the rebels carrying out
the operation had passed on through intermediaries.
In
it, he said he offered
Russia
security from terror acts in exchange for
Chechnya
's independence.
“’We
are offering you a reasonable peace on a mutually favorable principle --
independence in return for security,’” Basayev said he wrote in his
letter.
He
said that 33 persons, including two women, had carried out the Beslan
hostage taking, which had cost him 8,000 euros (9,600 dollars) to
organize.
“We
didn't have enough money to carry it out in
Moscow
,” he said.
The
group comprised 14 Chechens, nine Ingush, three ethnic Russians, two
Arabs, two Ossetians, and three other non-ethnic Russians, Basayev said,
according to the Internet site.
No
Al-Qaeda Link
|
|
Chechen children face the worst at the hands of Russian security forces |
Basayev
further denied
Moscow
's assertions that he and his men were linked to Al-Qaeda, according to
the lengthy message.
“I
do not personally know (Osama) bin Laden,” he said. “I don't receive
money from him, though I wouldn't refuse the offer.”
Basayev
also claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed 10 people
at a
Moscow
subway stop on August 31, the day before the Beslan hostage taking, and
for the downing of two airplanes that occurred a week prior and killed
90 people.
The
plane attacks had previously been claimed by an Islamic group calling
itself the Islambouli Brigades in a statement posted on a website.
Basayev,
whom photos show with a black bushy beard, shaved head and ever-present
military fatigues, has claimed responsibility for some of the most
spectacular attacks on Russian soil.
In
the middle of the first Russo-Chechen war in June 1995, he and his men
took 1,500 people hostage at a hospital in Budyonnovsk in southern
Russia
. Some 150 people died as a result of the siege, most of them killed by
bullets from Russian soldiers.
In
October 2002, his men took more than 800 people hostage at a theater in
Moscow
.
Some
130 hostages were killed, most from a deadly gas that Russian forces
pumped into the theater in a raid to free the hostages.
The
small mountainous republic pf
Chechnya
has been ravaged by conflict since 1994, with just three years of
relative peace after the first Russian invasion of the region ended in
August 1996 and the second began in October 1999.
At
least 100,000 Chechen civilians and 10,000 Russian troops are estimated
to have been killed in both invasions, but human rights groups have said
the real numbers could be much higher.
Human
rights groups have accused Russian soldiers of committing aggressions
and abuses in
Chechnya
in the two invasions.
International
human rights watchdogs said in a joint
statement released in April that rape, torture and extrajudicial
executions by Russian troops have become everyday occurrences in
Chechnya
.
Related
Stories..
|
