MOSCOW (AP) – The Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya said on Wednesday that his forces killed six suspected militants, including a warlord accused of organizing a suicide attack in 2011 at a Moscow airport.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen regional leader, said troops under his command tracked the suspects in the village of Katar-Yurt and killed them all on the spot. Kadyrov said the operation marked the elimination of the last group of militants who remained in the region.
“All underground bands in Chechnya have been eliminated,” said Kadyrov on his blog. He added that the security scan was planned long ago and came after two previous unsuccessful attempts to hunt down the militants.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin called to congratulate Kadyrov, who personally participated in the security scan.
Kadyrov said that among the dead was warlord Aslan Byutukayev, whom Russian authorities accused of involvement in the January 2011 suicide bombing in the arrivals area of Moscow’s Domodedovo airport, which killed 37. Byutukayev appeared in a video alongside Chechen war chief Doku Umarov and the bomber.
Umarov, who also took responsibility for several other attacks in Russia, was killed in a security operation in 2013.
After Umarov’s death, Byutukayev became the leader of militants in Chechnya and swore allegiance to the Islamic State group. He is on Russia’s wanted list for his involvement in the 2011 bombing at the airport and other attacks.
The Kremlin relied on Kadyrov to stabilize Chechnya after two separatist wars in the 1990s and early 2000s and provided generous subsidies to help rebuild the region.
International human rights groups have accused Kadyrov of rampant human rights abuses, including arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial executions by his feared security forces.
Despite Kadyrov’s relentless crackdown on alleged extremists, some of whom swore allegiance to the Islamic State group, militants continued to launch sporadic attacks on Chechnya and other regions in the northern Caucasus of Russia.