I think "Abu Haws" = Abu Hafs al-Urduni, for those who are curious ...
Law-enforcement agents in Dagestan detained a member of the Al Qaeda terrorist group.
The terrorist was identified as Ali Soitekin Ollu, 28, a Turkish national. "During interrogation, Ali Soitekin Ollu confessed to taking an active part in terrorist activities as a member of the gang led by al Qaeda representative Abu Haws," the public relations department of the Federal Security Service (FSB) told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
The FSB conducted the operation to apprehend Ollu jointly with the Interior Ministry on December 29.
"Ollu said he served in the Turkish army in 1996-1997. In 2001, he was recruited by Islamic extremists for carrying out terrorist activities in the territory of the Chechen republic. To this end, he traveled to Baku with a group of fellow countrymen, took a bus to Tbilisi and then reached the Pankisi Gorge by taxi where Abu Haws was staying at the time," the FSB said.
He was trained there for about a year in a group of 35 Turkish citizens, led by Turkish national Abu Zar.
Abu Haws trained and ferried to Chechnya two groups of foreigners numbering 35 to 40 people each.
Ali Soitekin arrived in Chechnya in August 2002, in a group led by Ruslan Gelayev.
In 2002 throughout 2004, he took an active part in hit and run attacks on federal forces in the entire territory of Chechnya, including in the June 2004 attack on the village of Avtury, Shali district, where terrorists, led by Abu Haws, Basayev, Maskhadov and Khalilov, took 12 civilians hostage.
In June 2004, Ollu was wounded and taken to Dagestan, where he was receiving treatment and hiding for a year.
|