Wednesday, October 6, 2004
Al-Qaeda agents in Russia's Caucasus: FSB chief Agence-Fance Presse Moscow, October 6
Al-Qaeda terrorist network agents are at large in Russia's volatile North Caucasus, the chief of Russia's FSB state security service said.
"Al-Qaeda is not a myth, it really and truly is present on our territory," Nikolai Patrushev told NTV television, adding that some 10 Al-Qaeda agents had been detected in the Caucasus region.
"We know them and we will take measures to neutralise their activity — either by destroying them, or detaining them and bringing them to justice," Patrushev said.
Several separatist chiefs in the war-torn republic of Chechnya were Al-Qaeda members, including Khattab, Abu al Walid and Abu Khabs, Patrushev affirmed.
However, even though claiming that his secret service had prevented over 500 terrorist acts this year alone, Patrushev had to admit that "we do not work well enough to anticipate" terrorists, and "special services must work more effectively."
Patrushev also acknowledged that the FSB had not so far managed to lay hands on either Chechnya's separatist president Aslan Maskhadov nor the fearsome rebel warlord Shamil Basayev, both blamed by Moscow for numerous attacks.
Moscow branded Maskhadov a terrorist after the outbreak of the second Chechen war in October 1999, though he has regularly condemned terrorist actions against civilians in Russia and called for talks with Moscow.
Maskhadov also pledged to bring Basayev to justice after the warlord claimed responsibility for last month's school hostage crisis in the North Ossetian town of Beslan.
© HT Media Ltd. 2004.