MOSCOW, 9 March 2005 — Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov has been killed by Russian troops fighting to quell a long rebellion in the mainly Muslim Caucasus region, the Russian Army announced yesterday.

The death of Maskhadov, 53, would boost Russian President Vladimir Putin, who built his power largely on a tough line against the Chechen rebels. The armed campaign which Maskhadov led had brought bombings to the very heart of Russia.

Russian television showed what it said was Maskhadov lying, bare-chested on his back in a pool of blood, with his arms spread out on either side. There was what appeared to be a bullet mark in his left cheek.

“A special operation was carried out by us in the village of Tolstoy-Yurt as a result of which the international terrorist and leader of the rebel group Aslan Maskhadov was killed,” FSB Security Service chief Nikolai Patrushev told President Vladimir Putin.

Tolstoy-Yurt is 20 km north of Grozny.

Four close comrades of Maskhadov had been detained, Patrushev was shown on television telling Putin. He added that there had been no casualties among Russian security forces.

Putin asked Patrushev to double-check the report of Maskhadov’s death.

Akhmed Zakayev, a longtime ally and spokesman for Maskhadov, gave independent confirmation of the death.

“It’s definitely Maskhadov,” Zakayev said by telephone from Britain, where he has been granted political asylum.

Zakayev said the Chechens would name a successor to their veteran leader within days. “It is a very big loss, but it is not a death blow to us, as Putin thinks,” Zakayev said.

“Aslan Maskhadov was truly the leader of the Chechen people, and he was fulfilling his duty to the Chechen people until the end. He died heroically in an unequal battle,” Zakayev said.

Suggesting violent acts of revenge, he added: “Aslan Maskhadov will be much more dangerous for the Kremlin leadership in death than he could have been even in life, when he was calling for peaceful dialogue.”

Zakayev said rebels had in place a “military committee” which would choose a successor to Maskhadov, who was elected Chechnya’s president during the truce in 1997.

“This committee has the power to name a successor to Maskhadov and that decision will be legitimate until elections can be held. The announcement will be made in the next few days,” he said.

He did not say who sat on the committee, where it would meet or who were candidates to succeed Maskhadov.

Maskhadov had a $10 million reward on his head. Recently he called for talks with Moscow on Chechen demands for independence, but the Kremlin insists it will not negotiate with terrorists.

Some critics of Moscow’s policies in Chechnya saw Maskhadov as more moderate than Shamil Basayev and a man with whom the Kremlin could negotiate.