KHANKALA. June 28 (Interfax-AVN) - The regional headquarters for the anti-guerilla operation in the North Caucasus has officially confirmed that a guerilla killed near the Ingush village of Dalakovo was Magomed Yevloyev, one of the organizers of the recent attacks in Ingushetia.
"Officially verified reports suggest that it was Magomed Yevloyev, and not his relative, who was killed during a recent clash," regional headquarters spokesman Major General Ilya Shabalkin told Interfax on Monday.
"It was this guerilla who led the illegal armed groups that were involved in the recent attacks on facilities in Ingushetia," he said.
"Steps are being taken to identify and detain the remaining members of these groups," he said.
Yevloyev, also known as Magas, was an ethnic Ingush. He was born and grew up in Grozny in Chechnya. After the Chechen war, he became acquainted with the Akhmadov brothers, who were notorious for a series of abductions, and started to work with them. Over the past few years, he was a member of Shamil Basayev's unit, which was active in the Vedeno district's mountains. He commanded a group of 30-40 rebels.
Yevloyev used to visit his relatives and friends in Ingushetia, saying that he came under orders from Basayev to form a new unit for operations in Ingushetia.
An Ingush law enforcement source said earlier on Monday that one rebel had been killed and another detained in search operations outside the village of Dalakovo in Nazran district.
The source said that the rebel who was killed, also named Yevloyev, was a relative of Magomed Yevloyev.