Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has confirmed the discovery of the remains of notorious terrorist Doku Umarov, who masterminded several deadly attacks on civilian targets and was killed in 2013.
“As a result of targeted long-term operational search activities, the Federal Security Service has discovered the burial site of the leader of the North Caucasian criminal gang, Doku Umarov, and four members of his gang in the mountain-wooded area in the Russia’s Republic of Ingushetia,” the FSB said in a statement on Wednesday.
Umarov and his associates “were eliminated during the special operation of the security forces in September 2013,” the statement added.
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, in a post on Telegram, welcomed the discovery of Umarov’s remains.
“The elimination of Doku Umarov became the key moment in the fight against terrorism in the North Caucasus. It broke the back of international terrorists. I’m sure that international terrorism will never raise its head in our republic or in our region,” Kadyrov wrote.
Umarov headed the Caucasus Emirate militant group, which closely cooperated with Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and Al-Qaeda.
He was on the wanted list of Russia, the US, and the UN Security Council for organizing multiple acts of terrorism, kidnapping, contract murder, and other serious crimes in Russia.
The Chechen Islamist participated in a terrorist attack in the Russian Republic of Ingushetia in 1999, when militants managed to seize over a dozen villages.
Umarov took responsibility for several acts of terrorism in Russia, including attacks on the Nevsky Express passenger train, the Moscow Metro, and Domodedovo Airport.
An explosion on the Nevsky Express high speed train, travelling between Moscow and St. Petersburg, claimed the lives 27 people and injured around a hundred on November 27, 2009.
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Forty people died and around a hundred were injured as two female suicide bombers blew themselves up during rush hour at the Lubyanka and Park Kultury Metro stations in Moscow on March 29, 2010.
Another suicide attack Umarov took responsibility for hit Domodedovo International Airport on January 24, 2011, killing 37 and injuring 173.