Chechen rebel leader blamed for Beslan slaughter killed

CHECHEN rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov, blamed by Russia for last year's school hostage slaughter, has been killed during an army raid, Russian President Vladimir Putin was told yesterday.

Russian television coverage showed footage of a shirtless, grey-bearded, corpse that resembled Mr Maskhadov.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed deputy Chechen prime minister, said Russian forces had intended to take Mr Maskhadov alive, but he was killed by careless weapons-handling by his bodyguards.