Russian Intelligence Kills Top Al Qaeda Operative in South Russia03.12.2004
Russian special forces have killed an al Qaeda operative fighting with the Chechen separatist movement in southern Russia’s Ingushetia region.
The man, a Syrian citizen who went by the name of Marwan, was killed on Nov. 26 by FSB forces in a special operation, the Russian Information Agency Novosti reported.
Marwan, who had several aliases including Abu Habib, the White Arab, Sambiev Ahmed, and Turk Murat, served as deputy to Abu Hafs, a close collaborator of Saudi mercenaries Hattab and Abu Walid, who were both killed by Russian troops.
Abu Hafs, according to Russian intelligence, had personally met with al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and was thought to have been the financial link behind September’s bloody hostage siege in Beslan, where 330 people were killed. Marwan was also a member of several Turkey-based extremist organizations, Novosti reports.
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/12/03/marwan.shtml