MOSCOW, May 4 (UPI) -- Abdullah Kurd, said to be a leader of al-Qaida in the North Caucasus, was killed by Russian Special Forces in Chechnya, the Russian government said.
Russia's national counter-terrorism committee announced Kurd, an alias used by Turkish national Doger Sevdet, took control over al-Qaida operations in the North Caucasus after a previous leader was killed in April.
"In the Chechen Republic Abdullah Kurd was a member of the so-called Arab groups of al-Qaida under the command of Khattab, Abu al Walid and Abu Havs, whose criminal activity was suppressed before by the Russian (Federal Security Service) with the participation of law enforcement officers," a committee statement published by state-run news agency RIA Novosti read.
The report added that the militant leader was responsible for coordinating suicide bombings in Russia and helped ferry other insurgents into the region.
Officials claimed in April that Doku Umarov, the man dubbed the Chechen version of Osama bin Laden, may have been killed in an attack by Russian forces, though someone claiming to be Umarov later phoned Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Charges were filed against Umarov and others for organizing the January attack at the Domodedovo Airport in Moscow. The attack killed more than 30 people.
Russia's predominantly Muslim North Caucasus republics Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia have seen an upsurge of violence recently. Russia has been fighting the insurgency for many years following two bloody conflicts in Chechnya in the 1990s.
