Chief suspect in Ingush president assassination attempt named

The assassination attempt on the President of Ingushetia was organized by the leader of a militant group Magomed Yevloev, the Chechen republic’s Interior Minister has said.

According to Ruslan Alkhanov, Yevloev "personally organized and headed the assassination attempt.”

“The widow of a killed militant was used as a suicide bomber,” he said.

Yevloev was also suspected of being behind the Beslan school siege in 2004.

Meanwhile, according to Ingush Interior Minister several suspects have been arrested in connection to the crime. The names of the detainees, however, cannot be disclosed yet.

Ingush interior minister Ruslan Meiriyev only mentioned Rustam Makhauri, a man detained during a special operation near the village of Chemulga in Ingushetia on July 8.

Interfax agency quotes Meiriyev as saying:

“The detainee is a leader of the criminal underworld. There is information on his involvement in the organization of the attack on the Ingush president.”

He also said the investigation is close to its completion.

It is still not quite clear whether the executor of the attack was male or a female. The information has been contradictory. Whilst initially media reported the suicide bomber was a woman, the investigation suggests it was a man.

At the beginning of July, Russia’s prosecution representative Vladimir Markin said the forensic evidence showed that the assailant was a man “well-built and had black hair about 2-3 cm long.”

The Ingush President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov was seriously injured on June 22, when a car stuffed with explosives rammed into his motorcade.

The president and his brother were severely wounded. The bodyguard and a driver died.

President Yevkurov has since regained consciousness and remains in hospital in Moscow. Doctors say he has every chance of making a complete recovery.