MOSCOW. March 4 (Interfax-AVN) - Investigative activities have resulted in the arrest of four suspected collaborators with the hostage-takers in Beslan and militants that raided Ingushetia in June 2004, Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolai Shepel told Interfax on Friday.
"The investigation of the September 1-3, 2004 terrorist act in Beslan is continuing. In the process, four suspected collaborators with the terrorists at the stage of preparing the crime and attacking Ingushetia in June 2004 have been arrested. Five more were eliminated when they offered resistance," he said.
Shepel said that Abu Dzeit, a Saudi Arabian national, was killed in Kantyshevo, Ingushetia on February 16. He is believed to have been a key organizer of the terrorist raid on Ingushetia on June 21-22 and the hostage-taking in Beslan.
"Earlier, he was declared wanted. Abu Dzeit's involvement in organizing the terrorist act in the army hospital in Mozdok in August 2004 has been reliably proven. He instructed and directed the suicide bomber who bombed the hospital in the same way as he later instructed Ruslan Khuchbarov, also known as 'Colonel', before capturing the school in Beslan," Shepel said.
"The investigation has established that Abu Dzeit was the so-called emir of a militant group known as the Caliphate and an emissary of al-Qaeda," he said.