GROZNY. May 16 (Interfax-AVN) - Ichkeria's former vice president Vakha Arsanov was killed in a sweep operation in Chechnya's Staropromyslovsky district early on Sunday, Chechnya's Deputy Interior Minister Sultan Satuyev told Interfax on Sunday.
Four militants, including Arsanov, were killed in a sweep operation in the village of Ivanovo after they offered resistance to government forces, he said.
"Arsanov's body has been shown to numerous Grozny residents who knew him well. They all pointed to this corpse, claiming that this was Arsanov's body," Satuyev said.
A burnt passport under the name of Abdula Khamidov issued by one of Grozny's district police stations was found on Arsanov.
The body has been delivered to the Staropromyslovsky district interior department where it will undergo a DNA test, the deputy interior minister said.
The guerillas, among them Arsanov, were killed in a shootout that broke out after they opened fire on a police car as it was driving past House No. 33 in Ivanovo, Satuyev said. Three Kalashnikov assault rifles, which are believed to have been stolen from Interior Ministry depots in the republic of Ingushetia, and a Makarov revolver were confiscated from the scene.
The Chechen prosecutor's office has not confirmed Arsanov's death.
"All the necessary forensic examinations are being carried out at the moment. We will be able to confirm that the eliminated militants have been identified only after they are finalized," a spokesman for the republic's prosecutor's office told Interfax by phone.
Among other weapons, two assault rifles, which were stolen during a raid on Ingushetia on the night of June 22, 2004, were confiscated from the scene of the shootout, the spokesman said.
"Reports that one of the guerillas has been identified as Vakha Arsanov are preliminary. We cannot confirm this information now," he said
The Federal Security Service has declined to comment on reports about Arsanov's death.