Top Militant Claims Jihad Spreading Across North Caucasus

(RFE/RL) 10 January 2006 -- A man presenting himself as the leader of the anti-Russian armed front in Kabardino-Balkaria today warned that the jihad, or "holy war," was spreading across the entire North Caucasus region.

In an interview with the pro-independence Kavkaz-Center Chechen website, Anzor Astemirov assessed the 13 October raids on Kabardino-Balkaria's capital Nalchik as a strategic success. "We've achieved our main objective. We finally and openly carried out the first step toward jihad," Astemirov is reported to have said.

Astemirov is also known by his nom de guerre Amir Seifulla.

Shamil Basaev, the top military leader of the Chechen separatist leadership, made similar comments on 9 January in another interview posted on Kavkaz-Center.

Russian officials say the October raids claimed the lives of more than 140 people, including 95 alleged militants. Astemirov and Basaev both said 37 militants were killed in the unrest.

(Kavkaz-Center)