Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov has been killed, the head of the Federal Security Service informed President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, according to footage shown on local television channel NTV.

The television channel showed footage of a shirtless bearded corpse that resembled Maskhadov.

The footage also showed Federal Security Service head Nikolai Patrushev telling Putin that Maskhadov had been killed in a "special operation" in the village of Tolstoy-Yurt.

Maj. Gen. Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for the regional headquarters for the control of the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus region in southern Russia, also confirmed Maskhadov's death earlier in the day.

"I confirm that Maskhadov has been killed in the village of Tolstoy-Yurt," Shabalkin was cited by Interfax news agency as saying.

The official said the federal troops killed Maskhadov in a special operation that led to an armed clash between the two sides in the village and Maskhadov was taking shelter in a bunker under one of the houses there.

Shabalkin said a corpse found on the site of the clash had been identified as Maskhadov's body.
Itar-Tass news agency cited the same source as saying that a number of followers of the gang leader were detained in the operation.

Ramzan Kadyrov, first deputy president of Chechen government, said that the federal troops had planed to capture Maskhadov alive, but he was killed accidentally by his bodyguard's weapons, according to Interfax.

Kadyrov noted that the body of Maskhadov will be sent to his family for funeral.

(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2005)