Top Chechen rebel commander Doku Umarov has claimed responsibility for the shooting dead of a a Russian Colonel in Moscow last month.
Yuri Budanov was shot dead at close range in a busy Moscow suburb as he walked near a local park. Budanov had been charged with war crimes for the rape and murder of a teenage Chechen girl in 2003 but had only served 6 years in prison.
In a video which only appeared yesterday, Umarov is shown sitting alongside another rebel commander in what are assumed to be the mountains of southern Chechnya. In claiming responsibility for the assassination Umarov says:
"I am addressing you today about a joyous occasion: yesterday, on June 10, Allah by his will brought us a great celebration, punishing one of the sadists, the reprobate, the killer Budanov,"
"The same fate, the same revenge awaits the others," he added.
Doku Umarov is Russia's most-wanted man and is one of the most wanted people on the planet. So far, Russia has claimed to have killed him at least 17 times - although on each occassion such claims have proven to be false. He is suspected of ordering the Moscow Airport Bombing and the Moscow Train Bombings.
However Russian security forces have noted that there has been defections within the ranks of the Chechen Rebels and say that the long delays between attacks and subsequent claims of responsibility show that Umarov and his group are cut off from much of the world.
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