| Dan Darling will be happy and sad: happy cuz Dooku will be toe-tagged, and sad cuz he's had so much fun with this pic ... |
"The death of even the most worthy will not weaken our jihad (holy war). On the contrary, our martyrs encourage the fighters with their heroic example," said a statement on a rebel Web site. "Today our enemies, not hiding their baseness, are celebrating. But it should be us, not them, who are celebrating, because our brother and leader Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev is in heaven, as is the will of Allah."
Sadulayev, a cleric from Argun, was little known outside Chechnya but had reorganised the resistance since taking over a year ago and tried to increase its links with Islamist fighters elsewhere in Russia's turbulent North Caucasus. Unceasing Russian pressure has fragmented the rebel movement, but rebel fighters stage daily attacks in Chechnya and neighbouring regions. Sadulayev will be succeeded as head of the Chechen resistance by warlord Doku Umarov, who unlike Sadulayev has long been a hands-on guerrilla leader. Along with Shamil Basayev, who organised the war's worst attacks on civilians such as the Beslan school siege in 2004, Umarov commands troops in the field. They are key targets for Russian security services.