Chechen link to school siege confirmed

CHECHEN and Ingush militants who took part in last week’s deadly school siege in Russia were yesterday identified.

Of the ten attackers identified so far, six came from Chechnya, where insurgents have been battling Kremlin forces for five years. The other four came from Ingushetia, a republic neighbouring Chechnya that saw attacks against police in June, in which 90 people were killed.

The identities, reported by regional security officials on condition of anonymity, appeared to draw a strong connection between the Chechen insurgency and last week's hostage-taking, which ended in gunfire and explosions that killed at least 326 people.

The presence of Ingush raiders could threaten to inflame long-standing tensions between them and ethnic Ossetians, who are the majority in the republic of North Ossetia where the school was seized.

Meanwhile, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov accused Western countries of "double standards" for granting asylum to Chechen separatist figures, saying the practice weakens global anti-terror efforts.

Mr Lavrov's comments in Russian newspapers and radio and TV broadcasts reflected long-time Russian anger over what Moscow sees as the West's receptiveness to the rebels.

Interior minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, meanwhile, reported to president Vladimir Putin that directors for anti-terrorist commissions had been appointed in the republics of the North Caucasus region, which includes Chechnya.

Few details were given in Mr Nurgaliyev's televised comments about how the commissions would work, but the announcement clearly showed the Kremlin's concern that inefficiency and corruption had undermined security and that the violence could spread in the North Caucasus, where ethnic tensions create a potentially volatile mix.

Recent attacks the downing of two airliners apparently by explosions, a suicide bombing outside a Moscow subway station and last week's school siege in the town of Beslan have already prompted officials to offer a huge cash reward for information leading to the killing or capture of top Chechen rebel leaders and a pledge to go after terrorists all over the world.

The Kremlin contends that the militants are trained and supported by terrorist groups like al-Qaida.

"Granting asylum to people involved in terrorism and Russia has documented evidence of this not only causes us regret but also effectively undermines the unity of the anti-terrorist coalition," Mr Lavrov said.

Russian officials have been particularly angered by Britain's granting of asylum to Akhmed Zakayev, an envoy for Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov, and the US granting asylum to Ilyas Akhmadov, who was foreign minister under Mr Maskhadov during Chechnya's de-facto independence in the late 1990s.

"It is enough to recall Akhmed Zakayev's statement made from London, in which he plainly and bluntly and without any intricacies blamed what happened in Beslan on the Russian leadership. I believe the cynicism of this statement is clear to everybody," Mr Lavrov said.

"We are far from accusing the leaders of major countries ... of deliberately preserving this double standard," he said. "But the inertia is still very strong."

On Wednesday, the Federal Security Service offered a reward of $10 million for information that could help "neutralise" Maskhadov and longtime rebel warlord Shamil Basayev.

Military commander Colonel General Yuri Baluyevsky asserted the right to act preemptively saying: "We will take all measures to liquidate terrorist bases in any region of the world," including launching pre-emptive strikes.

Police in St Petersburg, Russia's second city, found a cache of explosives and weapons in a cinema that was closed for repairs.