Chechnya - Ibn-ul-Khattab

Basayev's diminutive but fierce bosom buddy (born 1970 in the Arabian Gulf) is a curly-locked, dark-skinned Bedouin named Khattab, an Emir (or Commander) of the Foreign Mujahideen Forces in the Caucasus. Kahttab (his nom de guerre) has a Dagestani wife living in the settlement of Kara-Makhi in Dagestan. Although not as well known as Basayev, Khattab is a mujahedin's mujahid. He is also called "one-armed Akhmed" and "the Black Arab,"

In 1987, when he was 18, he left the American High School began his jihad in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, he was originally going to be a surgeon but became a mujahid instead. He liked fast cars and came from a wealthy family. He last two fingers from his right hand when throwing a home made grenade. He often wears a bandage or driving glove on his right hand. He fought in Tajikistan from 1993 to 1995 and then returned to Afghanistan where he met Basayav Khattab put together a group of volunteers and headed to Chechnya.

Khattab says he says he took part in actions in several Persian Gulf countries against French and other Israeli citizens. Despite being wanted by Interpol, Khattab is both shy and media savvy. He has taken to videotaping every action his men take part in.

His most famous actions are the attack and complete annhilation of (and videotaping of) a Russian armored convoy near the villages of Serzhen-Yurt and Yarysh-Mardy in the spring of 1996. You can see some of the carnage on the www.azzam.com site. After the Russians retreated, Khattab set up a training camp during the winter of '96D'97. His training school was near the village of Serzhen-Yurt, Vedeno Rayon, where he and several of his senior veteran "Afghan" and "Bosnian" mujahedin taught black skills.

He escaped an assassination attempt in June 1997 while driving a jeep near Benoy, some 70 kilometers south of the capital, Grozny. A remote-control land mine blew up. missing the jeep by seconds. Khattab was not hurt.

His school trains and indoctrinates some of the most promising Chechen youth, all war veterans, to become the core of Chechnya's current intelligence, special and terrorist forces. For some reason, the school also has a special department training Algerians and French maghribis for terrorist operations in France.

It is no surprise that the apartment bombings in Moscow combined with Khattab's sudden lack of visibility with journos in-country to interview him led to direct suspicion of his graduates being involved in the attacks.

The mainstream Chechen leaders have been publicly distancing themselves from Khattab since January 1997, particularly Maskhadov, under whose command Khattab once fought. This has led to Basayev's split from Maskhadov and brotherlike relationship with Khattab.

http://www.qoqaz.net/