MOSCOW. Nov 24 (Interfax-AVN) - Militant leader Doku Umarov might have been wounded in Chechnya, Ruslan Badalov, head of the Chechen National Salvation Committee human rights group, which monitors the situation in the republic, told Interfax on Friday.
"The unconfirmed information available to us indicates that Umarov was wounded," he said.
An officer of one of Chechnya's security services told human rights activists that Umarov might have been wounded, Badalov said.
"It could have happened when a shell hit a dug-out where Umarov was taking cover during artillery strikes in a forested area near the village of Yandi in the Achkhoi-Martan district on November 12 or November 13," he said.
"A large number of units were sent to the aforementioned district to capture the militant leader. They combed the area, but they found nothing," Badalov said.
Human rights activists are gathering information either to confirm or deny that Umarov was wounded, he said.
Official sources denied earlier media reports claiming that Umarov's group had been surrounded outside the village of Yandi, 30 kilometers from Achkhoi-Martan, and that gun battles involving aircraft had continued for several days.