'Terror chief' killed in car bomb attack

Former Chechen President Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, who is wanted by Russia over terrorism allegations, was killed today in a car explosion in the Qatari capital Doha, a doctor said.

The doctor said Yandarbiyev died from his injuries on the way to a hospital. Yandarbiyev’s son was understood to be in a critical condition.

A hospital official had earlier said two bodyguards arrived dead at the hospital.

The hospital would not confirm that the injuries came from a car explosion, but Arab satellite channels Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya both reported Yandarbiyev was injured in an explosion that killed two other people.

The Russian Embassy had no comment on the reports.

Al-Jazeera said the explosion occurred after Yandarbiyev had prayed at a Doha mosque. He got into his private car, and the explosion went off at a road intersection 300 yards away.

The Qatari Foreign Ministry said it would issue a statement on the incident.

Russia seeks the extradition of Yandarbiyev, who has been living in Qatar, accusing him of organising various kidnappings and of maintaining international terrorist ties.

Yandarbiyev, born in 1952, became vice president of Chechnya under separatist president Dzhokhar Dudayev, and served as acting president of de facto independent Chechnya in 1996-97.

He headed the rebel delegation to talks with then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin and then-Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin in 1996.

Yandarbiyev opened a Chechen Embassy in Kabul and a consulate in Kandahar during the reign of the Taliban.

The United Nations last year put Yandarbiyev on a list of people with alleged links to the al-Qaida terrorist network. The US government, too, put Yandarbiyev on a list of international terrorists subject to US financial sanctions.

Yandarbiyev was considered a key link in the Chechen rebels’ finance network, channelling funds from abroad. He has lived in Qatar for more than three years, according to Russian authorities.

Yandarbiyev has in the past denied links between Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida and Chechen rebels.