EMIR IBN AL KHTTAB

Emir ibn Al Khattab (according to various versions of Hottab, Khattab, Khettab), he is also "Ahmed one-armed", he is also "Black Arab", born around 1963, height 176 - 178 cm, native and citizen of Jordan. Densely built, swarthy, wears a beard, long curly hair, 1-2 phalanges are missing on all fingers of the right hand (according to other sources, it has only two fingers on the right hand, while one phalanx is missing on the index), currently resides in the village of Vedeno.
Khattab comes from a wealthy family, has seven brothers and many relatives. One of the sisters lives in the USA (state of New Jersey), where she allegedly runs a gun shop.
In an interview with the Groznensky Rabochiy newspaper, he said that he was from Arabia, his parents were alive, he had seven brothers and many relatives. He dreamed of studying in the USA and becoming a physicist or mathematician, but more than nine years ago he went to fight in Afghanistan, then in Tajikistan, and a little later - in Chechnya. The reason for his appearance in the Caucasus, Khattab called "the invasion of Russian infidels and the Jihad caused by this invasion."
He has several wives, one of whom is a native of the Shali settlement. Another wife, a Dargin by nationality, a native of the village of Kadar, Buynaksky district of the Republic of Dagestan. Installation data and place of residence of others family ties unknown.
Khattab and his family permanently reside in the village of Vedeno on Aslambek Sheripov Street in house 1. There are always 2-3 guards from among foreign mercenaries in the courtyard of the house.
Major of the Armed Forces of the CRI. He was awarded the highest military awards of Chechnya: two orders of "Honor of the Nation" and the gold medal "Valiant Warrior". Since 1988, he took an active part in the hostilities against Soviet troops in Afghanistan, then fought in Tajikistan on the side of the opposition. He arrived in Chechnya in 1994 as part of a group of people from the Middle East.
According to some reports, Khattab has been taking part in various military operations for 17 years, including in Afghanistan on the side of the Mujahideen, in the Persian Gulf countries (presumably in Iraq) and against Israel, he was an instructor in the camps of the Afghan Mujahideen in Pakistan.
Commander of the detachment of foreign mercenaries "Jamaat Islami" in the Chechen Republic. An experienced and well-trained terrorist fighter, owns all types of small arms. He has a reputation as a mine-blasting specialist. He personally trains militants subordinate to him. Khattab can use white Niva, KamAZ, ZIL cars for transportation.
Khattab is very religious, he considers Chechnya "the land of Allah" and is ready to fight until "not a single infidel remains" on it. He pretends to be a Pakistani, with others he explains, as a rule, in very bad Russian. He has unquestioned authority among subordinates who unquestioningly carry out any of his orders. Unpretentious. He is revered by militants as a fair and caring commander.
It is distinguished by particular cruelty towards prisoners, including the wounded. When reprisals against those captured, he prefers to use edged weapons. He sneered at the corpses of Russian servicemen, cutting off their ears, noses, and scalping them. He captures all these actions on video and photographic film in order to demonstrate his practical activities to attract funds from Muslim foreign organizations and funds of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Turkey.
Periodically, these videos, having shaved off his beard, under the cover of documents of a journalist from one of the Arab newspapers, he took out abroad (during the trip he had a mustache). He returned from abroad with a large amount of money in foreign currency.
Khattab's appeal to Sheikh Al-Fadel Muhammad Ash-Shiha (Saudi Arabia) was recorded with a request to allocate funds, in particular, for the purchase of ammunition and the arrangement of militant training camps.
Attack on a checkpoint of federal troops near the village of Kharachoy in October 1995, attack on a convoy of federal troops near the village of Yaryshmardy, capture of 28 servicemen internal troops in the village of Shuan and other major subversive actions were carried out under the direct supervision of Khattab. In addition, in order to put pressure on Aslan Maskhadov, who went to sign peace with Russia, on his instructions, an explosion was carried out on the way of the column with the CRI delegation.
According to some information, in the summer of 1996, Khattab was preparing to carry out an extremist action against the head of the Chechen Republic, Doku Zavgaev, a terrorist act was planned, or, if possible, his abduction.
The Khattab detachment, consisting of mercenaries with experience in combat operations in the so-called hot spots, participated in a number of terrorist actions both on the territory of the Chechen Republic and the regions of Russia adjacent to it. A terrorist act against doctors, members of the humanitarian mission of the Red Cross, on December 18, 1996, in the village of Novye Atagi, was committed by militants of Khattab.
The main base of Khattab is located on the territory of a former pioneer camp near the village of Serzhen-Yurt on the left bank of the Khulhulau River, where seven training camps are concentrated. Of these, five are under the general leadership of Khattab, the other two are supervised by Shirvani and Shamil Basayev. The five Khattab camps are located at a short distance from each other and are named after the leaders of these camps:

1. The central camp (aka the headquarters of Khattab), where about 100 foreign mercenaries and a small number of Chechen fighters are concentrated.
2. "Abujafar camp" - training in the methods of guerrilla warfare and the use of all types of small arms.
3. "Yakub-camp" - training in mastering the skills of the art of war, as well as the use of heavy weapons in battle.
4. "Abubakar-camp" - training in carrying out sabotage and terrorist actions in the rear of the "enemy".
5. "Davgat-camp" - psychological and ideological training through a deep study of the Koran, the assimilation of Islamic dogmas.
The educational process is well established, Khattab only inspects it.

Most of the cadets are from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and other republics former USSR(about 2000 people). About 50-60 foreigners live permanently in the camp, from whom Khattab confiscated their passports and who, even if they wish, cannot go back. These are mercenaries from the countries of the Near and Middle East. In the camp there are constant round-the-clock classes with daily practice shooting. The trainees are well provided with food.
In addition, in the village of Kharachoy, in the school-madrasah created by Khattab, there are 80 people, mostly Avars and Dargins. Arab mercenaries teach at the madrasah, and preference is given to the reactionary Muslim trend of Wahhabism. In addition, physical and military training classes are held with students. The school is funded from Saudi Arabia.
Khattab reportedly planned to move the school to a training center being built in a former holiday home on Lake Kezenoy-Am. The number of students can be increased up to 300 people. An integral part of the training of militants is the so-called "Islamic Institute of the Caucasus", located in Serzhen-Yurt, which is actually a branch of the international extremist organization "Muslim Brotherhood". The main task of this organization is to plant among the peoples of Chechnya and other republics North Caucasus the most radical Islamic trend - Wahhabism, as well as the implementation of the idea of ​​​​creating a single Islamic state in this region "from the Caspian to the Black Sea."
To achieve their goals, Islamic fundamentalists have developed and are implementing a large-scale program (called the "Islamic Call") to create paramilitary units on the territory of the North Caucasian republics, modeled on the Islamic Taliban movement, which include the so-called "Islamic fighters" who have undergone military and religious training.
The "Caucasus Islamic Institute" also has a military training camp "Sayd Ibn Waqas". At present, the institute has 40 Arab and Afghan teachers and 160 students, a training program based on the study Arabic and religious disciplines, designed for two months. Practically all students, among whom, along with citizens of the republics of the North Caucasus, there are also representatives of Tatarstan, simultaneously undergo military training in the Said Ibn Abu Wakas camp.
Khattab directly obeyed the instructions of Zelemkhan Yandarbiyev, is closely acquainted and regularly in contact with Shamil Basayev, taught the latter the specifics of the war in the mountains, explosives, methods and methods of sabotage and terrorist activities. Basayev is his close friend, so he organized Khattab's marriage to a Chechen woman (from the village of Vedeno), recommended him to the bride's parents.

A native of Saudi Arabia, a participant in the wars in Afghanistan and Tajikistan, a field commander who led detachments of foreign mercenaries in the First Chechen War, the organizer of the militant invasion of Dagestan in August 1999.

Biography

Amir ibn al-Khattab was born on April 14, 1966 (according to other sources, 1969 or 1970) in the city of Arar (Saudi Arabia). The real name, according to some sources, is Samir bin Saleh as-Suwaylim, according to others, Habib Abdul Rahman. According to the American weekly Newsweek, Khattab comes from the Jordanian Chechen diaspora (although official Jordanian sources deny this).

School teachers spoke of Khattab as very religious and the highest degree educated and intelligent young man. He dreamed of becoming a scientist - a physicist or a mathematician - and in 1986 (according to other sources - in 1987), his family sent him to study in the United States. However, soon Khattab became an active supporter of the ideas of the leader of the well-known fundamentalist organization "Muslim Brotherhood" ( ) Seyid Kutba and went to Afghanistan, considering it his duty to take part in jihad against the Soviet troops.

According to Vremya MN, Khattab graduated military academy in Amman (Jordan).

He spoke Arabic, Russian, English and Pashtun.

In Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, Khattab was engaged in military training at a training camp near Jalalabad, incl. and under the guidance of American instructors. Along with other Arab volunteers, Khattab was intensive training in one of bin Laden's camps at the al-Qaeda base, where he mastered all types of small arms and mine-blasting.

In 1993, in the battles for Kabul, Khattab was seriously wounded. After the Mujahideen coalition came to power in Afghanistan, in 1993-1995 he trained militant units from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Khattab was personally involved in the attack on the 12th outpost of the Moscow border detachment on July 13, 1993, as a result of which 25 Russian border guards were killed. In Tajikistan, from a grenade explosion, he lost several fingers on his hand, for which he received the nickname "Akhmed One-armed."

First Chechen War

In 1994-1995, Khattab began to form two combat detachments - mainly from Egyptians and Saudis - to participate in the First Chechen War. He arrived in Chechnya in 1994 as part of two hundred militants from the countries of the Middle East. Khattab was directly subordinated to Zelimkhan Yandarbiev and was responsible for financing the Chechen separatists, as well as for military training.

In 1995, Khattab created a network of specialized camps in the mountainous regions of Chechnya (according to various estimates, from 7 to 17) for the training of militants. The main base was located near the village of Serzhen-Yurt. On the basis of the school-madrasah created by Khattab in the village of Kharacha, the "Islamic Institute of the Caucasus" was organized, which was actually a branch of the international organization "Muslim Brotherhood" ( the organization is banned in Russia by the court - approx. "Caucasian Knot"). It had 80 students, mostly Avars and Dargins. At the disposal of the "Islamic Institute of the Caucasus" was the military training camp "Sayd Ibn Waqas", in which, within the framework of the large-scale program "Islamic Appeal", students were engaged in military and religious training.

In April 1996, Khattab organized an ambush and execution of a column of Russian armored vehicles near the village of Yaryshmardy. The execution of a column of federal troops was filmed on a videotape, which was replicated and sold even in the markets of Grozny. According to unverified reports, in the summer of 1996, Khattab was preparing the assassination or kidnapping of the pro-Russian head of the Chechen Republic, Doku Zavgaev.

Alliance with Shamil Basayev

After the end of the First Chechen War and his promotion to the rank of brigadier general, Khattab declared that he would continue jihad until complete victory over the infidels.

At the end of 1997, the Khattab detachment attacked part of the 136th motorized rifle brigade North Caucasus Military District in the city of Buynaksk - this action served as a kind of test of strength before the future invasion of militants into Dagestan.

In mid-1998, on the basis of a common dream - the creation of an Islamic imamate on the territory of the entire North Caucasus - Khattab entered into a military-political alliance with Basayev (before that, their relationship was very strained).

Invasion of Dagestan and the Second Chechen War

In August and September 1999, the so-called. The "Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade" under the command of Basayev and Khattab twice invaded the territory of Dagestan. After intense fighting with the Russian federal forces, the Basayev and Khattab detachments were forced to retreat back to Chechnya.

In January 2000, Khattab told the Reuters news agency that not only would the militants not stop resisting, but that they were ready to carry out acts of sabotage on Russian territory.

In March 2000, Khattab organized an ambush on Russian federal forces near the village of Zhani-Vedeno. According to various sources, from 25 to 40 riot policemen died.

In December 2000, Khattab announced on Al-Jazeera Arabic television that he would help the Palestinian people.

According to the FSB, Khattab was involved in the kidnapping of American Kenneth Gluck in February 2001. And according to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation, Khattab was the customer of the terrorist attacks committed on March 24, 2001 in the Mineralnye Vody, Essentuki and Cherkessk.

Death

Amir ibn al-Khattab died on March 19, 2002, after he received a letter from Saudi Arabia, which the Russian special services first intercepted, and then treated with a potent poison and handed over to Khattab through their agents.

Khattab was awarded three highest military awards of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria: two orders "Kyoman Siy" ("Honor of the Nation") and a gold medal "Valiant Warrior". He was posthumously recognized by a Russian court as one of the masterminds behind the terrorist acts in Buynaksk, Moscow, and Volgodonsk.

Family

He had several wives, one of them was a native of the Shali settlement. In 1996, he married Fatima Bidagova, a Dargin woman from the Dagestan village of Karamakhi. Left a daughter.

Black Arab, he is Ahmed One-armed, he is Emir ibn Al Khattab.

Origin

• Date of Birth:
  Several options: 1963 or 1965 or 1970
• Place of Birth:
  According to some sources - Saudi Arabia, according to others - Jordan (although Jordan
  assures that the terrorist Khattab has nothing to do with her)

Education

In 1987 he graduated from high school and was already admitted to one of the American colleges, but went on vacation to Afghanistan. There he met with bin Laden and imbued with the ideas of jihad.

Graduated from the military academy in Amman (MN time)

Family status

He is married to a Dargin woman from the Dagestan village of Karamakhi. Has a daughter.

The main stages of the biography

He served in the "Circassian Guard of King Hussein." Fanatic adherent of Wahhabism. He is an expert on explosives and all types of light weapons, as well as sabotage operations. He has experience in military and terrorist operations since 1982. He fought in Afghanistan, Iraq, Tajikistan, according to some reports, he was involved in terrorist attacks in Israel.

1992-1993 - Fought as part of the Arab commandos.

In 1993, in the battles for Kabul, Khattab was seriously wounded.

1993 -1995 - headed the "special unit" in Tajikistan.

In Tajikistan, he lost several fingers from a grenade explosion, for which he received the nickname Ahmed Odnorukiy.

In 1994 - 1995 proceeded to form two groups of commandos, mostly Egyptians and Saudis, for the Chechen war.

He arrived in Chechnya in 1994 as part of a group of militants who arrived in Russia from the countries of the Middle East.

In April 1996, he organized an ambush and shot down a caravan of federal troops near the village of Shatoy.

At the end of 1997, he attacked part of the 136th motorized rifle brigade in the city of Buynaksk (this action served as a kind of test of strength before the future
aggression in Dagestan).

On December 23, 1997, a detachment of Ibn Khattab, consisting of a hundred people, made a sortie against an object deep in Russian territory, during which many were killed. Russian soldiers. In this battle, one of the companions of Ibn Khattab, the Egyptian Abu Bakr Akida, died.

Khattab sets himself the goal of expelling Russians from the Caucasus, from Central Asia, all the lands of Islam. According to the newspaper, the following statement belongs to him: “We know the Russians, their plans, we know their weak points. For this reason, it is easier for us to fight with them than with our other enemies. ("Labor", 1999)

The most famous operations of the "Black Arab" are: (70 people stood out from the Khattab detachment, there were no losses among them), providing a "corridor" to Raduev's gang near the village, motorized rifle regiment at Yarysh-Marda, (Khattab was wounded in the shoulder).

Khattab orders all the operations and terrorist attacks carried out by him personally to be filmed. There are two operators with video cameras at all times. Recordings are then replicated and sold to foreign foreign agencies accredited in Dagestan, Azerbaijan… (“ Soviet Russia", 1999)

Khattab is a mysterious figure: his face is hidden by a black beard, his last name is not known to anyone. Former US State Department adviser Yossef Bodansky believes that, among other things, Hottab fought for his ideas in a number of Arab countries and participated in assassination attempts against Israelis and the French. (“Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta”, 1999)

The development of Wahhabism, an extremist religious trend in the Caucasus, is associated with the name of Khattab. It is believed that it was artificially created in the 60s by the British intelligence service MI-6 and, to put it modern language, promoted in Saudi Arabia and Jordan. It was from there that, together with Emir Al-Khattab, Wahhabism appeared in Chechnya and Dagestan, which is very popular today among young people. The principle of "war for the sake of war", preached by the Wahhabis and Khattab, has now come to ordinary Dagestan villages.

Khattab does not like to communicate with the press, few of his public statements are known, but, nevertheless, it is known that he is the most consistent supporter of the unification of the entire North Caucasus into a single state. The unifying ideology of such an association should be Wahhabism and the idea of ​​an “Islamic nation”.

This is confirmed by a few interviews with Khattab, in which he declares that he really intends to wage a war to the last breath "for the liberation of all Muslim lands from infidel infidels."

Meanwhile, Chechnya's general representative in Russia, Mairbek Vachagaev, says: “We have no problems with Khattab. He is not a problem even for Russia. A myth has been created within the walls of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB. They made bin Laden out of Khattab. And he is a normal, law-abiding man.” (“Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta”, 1999)

He is one of the most influential figures, whose opinion Shamil Basayev listens to. He considers Chechnya "the land of Allah" ... He is revered by the militants as a fair and caring commander. When dealing with military personnel Russian troops prefers to use melee weapons.

There is evidence that it was Khattab who sneered at the corpses of Russian servicemen, cut off their ears, noses, and scalped them. All this was recorded on photo and videotape and later offered horrific shots for sale to Western media. (“Parliamentary newspaper”, 1999)

Additional Information

Growth is average. One of the hands is missing the index and middle fingers. He speaks Russian with an accent… Khattab has ancestral roots in Chechnya. 9 years
went back to fight in Afghanistan. Then - to Tajikistan. Everywhere he created mobile terrorist groups of 100-150 people ...

Emir Khattab is an implacable enemy of Russia. Mine Warfare Professional. Very religious. In total, Khattab has been fighting for about 15 years. In Afghanistan - against the USSR. In Iraq, against NATO and Israel. In Chechnya - against Russia. (" Russian newspaper", 1999)

He dreamed of becoming a scientist, physicist or mathematician. However, instead of a prestigious university, he decided to fight the "infidels" until they were completely destroyed. (NVO, 1999) He speaks Arabic, Russian, English and Pashtun.

Khattab not only does not hide, but, on the contrary, even flaunts with his pathological cruelty. He personally cracks down on prisoners, killing people exclusively with melee weapons. Violating all the commandments of Islam, more than once mocked the corpses, cutting off their ears, noses, genitals, removing scalps. This is confirmed by numerous video and photographic materials.

They are distributed in Russia and abroad not only with the aim of exerting psychological pressure on Russian servicemen, but also to enrich criminal groups. (“Independent military review”, Moscow, 1999)

“For a month you were taught the art of sabotage, bribery, spreading rumors. Your task is to “sow deadly terror among those who have sold Allah. Every hour they must feel the cold hand of death ... ". From a speech by Khattab to graduates of a sabotage school in 1997. ("Star of Altai", 1999)

Khattab ordered that black flags be installed on each car of the Wahhabis - signs of a "holy war" with the infidels. In his latest speeches, he calls Dagestan the next front, where "gazzavat" will unfold. Khattab is a key figure in securing financial flows from Saudi Arabia and Jordan to expand the influence of the Wahhabis in the North. ("Soviet Russia", 1999)

From an interview with Khattab. “I am a rather poor person. And I don't do my job for money. Helping a fellow Muslim is the duty of every Muslim. And we, in turn, help Muslims. Not necessarily entire states. Separate people. In addition, the work of our center does not require special costs. Just for three months, we teach the brothers Islam, how to handle weapons, mines and so on. And after a three-month training course, young people undergo practical training on the territory of Russia - in the republics adjacent to Chechnya. More often - in Dagestan. But not against his peoples, but against the Russians. The sacred duty of every Muslim is jihad.” ("Komsomolskaya Pravda", 1999)

How Khattab died

Special services reported details of the operation to destroy Khattab The entire chain through which the letter was sent to the addressee was doomed

The original of this material © "Kommersant", 09.09.2002, "Khattab took militants and security officers with him to the grave. Special operation, Photo: Vremya Novostei

Stepan Bugrov

The organizer of the explosions of residential buildings in Moscow, field commander Khattab, was destroyed in Chechnya on March 19 of this year. Its elimination was probably the most successful special operation since the first Chechen war. Kommersant correspondents managed to find out some details of how the KGB dealt with the Black Arab. In any case, the version proposed by the security services looks very plausible.

The Russian special services started hunting for Khattab back in 1996, after in April of that year he and a small group destroyed a convoy near a village in the Argun Gorge from an ambush. Then 53 soldiers were killed and 52 were wounded.

However, the Black Arab, sentenced to death by the Ministry of Defense and the FSB, seemed to be protected by Allah - he somehow incredibly managed to avoid the ambushes set up by the special forces, and even the missiles that the federals aimed at his satellite phone.

Khattab also survived after being seriously wounded in 1999, when his and Shamil Basayev's detachments entered Dagestan. The leadership of the Russian special services decided to put an end to the biography of the terrorist, who received the nickname Volosaty from the operatives (they call Maskhadov Ushasty, and Basayev - Lame), the leadership of the Russian special services decided to put an end to it in the fall of that year - even then it turned out that the explosions of residential buildings in Moscow, Volgodonsk and Buynaksk were organized and financed Black Arab.

Together with the first troops that entered Chechnya, there were fighters from the famous Alpha and Vympel special groups of the FSB anti-terrorist center, the GRU special forces and the Vityaz detachment of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, before whom the command set a specific task: to find, capture or destroy the leaders of the resistance. One of the first numbers on this list was Khattab.

The commandos say that several times the terrorist field commander literally slipped out of their hands. The FSB managed to recruit a man who was part of the Khattab detachment. From him, the secret service learned that the Black Arab surrounded himself with a triple ring of protection. And the Arabs from his inner circle do not let anyone near Khattab himself. Even some field commanders with whom he fought during the first Chechen campaign.

Nevertheless, a militant agent once managed to smuggle into the Khattab camp, located in the Nozhai-Yurt district, an electronic “beacon”, with the help of which it was possible to quite accurately determine the location of the field commander. But the already scheduled operation to capture the Black Arab fell through for purely technical reasons: the battery power of the device was only enough for half an hour of work, and during this time the special forces search group located in the mountains simply did not have time to reach the desired point.

Having made several more attempts to capture Khattab, which failed, the FSB decided to use the experience of the 1930s and 1940s, when the Soviet secret services actively used poisons to eliminate people they did not like. The poison, however, was replaced by the most modern poisonous substance. He processed a letter sent from Saudi Arabia to Khattab and intercepted by FSB agents.

Any contact with the message was fatal, and the effect of the poison increased significantly from time to time. The entire chain through which the letter was then sent to the addressee was doomed. The only difference is that the recipient who opened the message will die immediately, and the rest - after a while.

Kommersant's sources claim that the letter killed not only the Black Arab, but at least ten people close to him and couriers. One of the couriers, Dagestani Wahhabi Magomedali Magomedov, as Kommersant has already reported (see the issue of May 25 this year), was sorted out by the Chechens themselves, who were conducting their own investigation into the death of the field commander.

But as it now turns out, the Russian special services used Magomedov and other intermediaries in the dark - they did not know that the letter had been poisoned and that they themselves had already received a lethal dose of poison.

Realizing the destructive power of the letter, the Chechens, according to Kommersant's sources, decided to use it in the fight against the federals themselves.

By order of Shamil Basayev, the message, sealed in polyethylene, was thrown into a cache with weapons near the village of Gorny Alleroy, Nozhai-Yurt District, information about which the militants, through acquaintances of Chechen policemen, reported to the federal forces.

The cache was discovered by army intelligence - the sergeant who found and examined the letter, and the commander of the battalion in which he served, died.

And while the army authorities were sorting out the circumstances of their death, the letter was sent to the FSB as a possible source of the most important information for the federals about the militants. How many more people could ruin this message, one can only guess.

But just at that time, an FSB specialist was on a business trip in Chechnya, who participated in the development of the liquidation of Khattab. Before being sent to Russia, they brought him a letter. They say that, as soon as he saw the familiar envelope, the officer grabbed the special communications tube and began to call for an ambulance helicopter. The poisoner was saved - he became an invalid. The letter that killed Khattab and many other people was destroyed.

Amir ibn al-Khattab(real name - Samer Saleh as-Suwaylem(Arabic ثامر صالح عبد الله السويلم‎‎); April 14, 1969 - March 20, 2002) - field commander, originally from Saudi Arabia, one of the leaders of the armed formations of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in the territory Russian Federation in 1995-2002, a supporter of the creation of an Islamic state in Chechnya.

He preached the ideas of Salafiya and the religious holy war (“ghazavat”), the practical implementation of which he was engaged in before Chechnya, participating in hostilities on the side of the Islamists in Afghanistan (1987-1992) and Tajikistan (1993). He was one of the leaders of the Wahhabi organizations "Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade" and "Supreme Military Majlisul Shura of the United Forces of the Mujahideen of the Caucasus."

Biography

As his real name before his death was called Habib Abd al-Rahman(spelling options - Habib Abdul Rahman, Abd al-Rahman, Habib ar-Rahman), after - Samer Saleh as-Suwaylem.

The exact year and place of birth are unknown (according to some reports, they were not known even to himself). The year 1963 is indicated, and, as the most probable, 1969. Born in the city of Arar (Saudi Arabia). According to Newsweek, Khattab is an ethnic Chechen, a representative of the large Jordanian Chechen diaspora. There is also information that he was half Circassian, other sources refute it: “According to a number of testimonies, Khattab has Jordanian citizenship.

Rumors about his Chechen origin and alleged service in the "Circassian Guard" - the personal guard of the King of Jordan, consisting of Chechens and Kabardians, do not correspond to reality. Akhmat Kadyrov when he was the head of the administration of the Chechen Republic, he indicated that Khattab allegedly was in fact a Yemenite Jew who named his first daughter Sarah. (This statement was made by Kadyrov after a personal trip to Jordan, during which he made an unsuccessful attempt to establish contacts with the Jordanian Chechen diaspora.) Referring now to the FSB, then to the GRU, then even to the CIA, he was called either a Jordanian Chechen, or an Arab - when Jordanian, when Saudi, occasionally Yemeni, or even completely enrolled as Pakistanis.

Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev stated that Khattab is a Saudi by nationality, "although for some reason he is called either a Jordanian Chechen, or someone else ...". (According to General Troshev's book, Khattab was born into a "rich Jordanian family of Chechen origin.") The fact that Khattab was from Saudi Arabia was also testified by the American Mujahid Aukei Collins, who fought under him.

In 2001, the Jordanian ambassador to Moscow, Ahmed Ali Mubaydin, stated that Khattab had never been a citizen of Jordan and was not a Jordanian: " never been Jordanian, neither by nationality nor by origin».

It is claimed that his father was the elder of a nomadic Bedouin tribe, whose nomadic territory is located on the border of Jordan and Saudi Arabia, in the sands of the al-Shamakh desert. The same source notes the wealth of his Bedouin family and the fact that Khattab, "apparently, by nature was endowed with a good mind and creative imagination."

In 1987, relatives sent him to study in the USA, in New York. Reliable information about his life in the United States is not available to the general public, the sources that exist are very contradictory: according to one information, he applied to one of the American colleges, was accepted, but did not start classes, some sources indicate that he still studied until the end of 1987, but it is not clear whether he was already in college or somewhere else. He did not want to return home, citing the right to participate in the ghazawat in accordance with Sharia, despite the prohibition of relatives.

In the same 1987 he went to Afghanistan, where he took an active part in the hostilities against the Soviet troops. He distinguished himself in the battles for Jalalabad and Kabul. He was seriously wounded in the stomach by a 12.7 mm bullet. He lost several fingers on his hand in a grenade explosion.

In the early 90s, the Azerbaijani government turned to the Afghan Mujahideen with a request for help - the troops were defeated in battles with Armenian formations in Nagorno-Karabakh. One of those who responded to the call was Khattab.

In 1993, after the Mujahideen coalition came to power in Afghanistan, he returned home, but soon again (in 1994) returned to Afghanistan, where, with a group of associates, he trained and armed Islamic opposition from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. “Khattab in Tajikistan showed his commanding skills by organizing a series of attacks on Russian border guard outposts” (Washington Profile, 27.06.2002). He participated in the attack on the 12th outpost of the Moscow border detachment, as a result of which 25 Russian border guards were killed. Contrary to the assertion of some sources, Khattab was not the organizer of this attack, but only led one of the detachments participating in it.

In Chechnya

In December 1994, from a CNN report, he learned about the war in Chechnya: “Khattab told how he saw a story about events in Chechnya on television. “I realized that Jihad is going on in Chechnya and I am obliged to take part in it,” after which, using the ties that had developed with the Chechens back in Nagorno-Karabakh, already in January 1995, together with 18 accomplices (including Abu al-Walid al- Ghamidi and Abu-Kuteib) arrived in Grozny, took an active part in the First Chechen War, organized a number of successful operations against Russian troops.

Hero of Russia, Colonel-General Gennady Troshev wrote about him in his memoirs: “Khattab was called one-armed not by chance. All the fingers of his right hand are missing one or two phalanges. But he also shoots skillfully with his left hand. Love for weapons, apparently, is a family disease. The terrorist's sister, for example, owns a large gun shop in the United States. However, it is unlikely that you will be able to visit Khattaba's sister, because Western intelligence agencies for many years they have been hunting for him: “Height is 174-176 cm, youthful appearance, swarthy, wears a beard, hair long to the shoulders ...“.

He was an experienced and well-trained terrorist, owned all types of small arms. Understood in mine-subversive business. He personally trained suicide bombers subordinate to him.

He organized foreign financing for the purchase of ammunition and the arrangement of camps for the training of militants in Chechnya.

In 1995, together with members of his detachment, he founded the military-religious training center "Kavkaz" on the outskirts of the village of Serzhen-Yurt (on the territory of a former pioneer camp). In the camp, young people from nearby villages were trained in Islam and various aspects of military affairs. All in this training center about 10,000 militants were trained. According to Zelimkhan Yandarbiev: "I created the Khattab training camp at the end of the first war through the General Staff headed by Maskhadov."

According to media reports, in the summer of 1996 he was preparing the liquidation or, if possible, the abduction of the pro-Russian head of the Chechen Republic Doku Zavgaeva.

Maskhadov said: Khattab in our understanding - a volunteer. Somewhere in the 95th year, he ended up on the territory of Chechnya, fought, did not stand out in any way. When the war ended, he pretended to be a lamb - he did not interfere in any politics, he has nothing to do with everything that happens here. But he says: because he fought in Chechnya, he cannot return to his home. How to say to a person who fought, helped us: “That's it. Get out of here, we don't need you anymore?'"

In 1998, he joined the terrorist organization Congress of the Peoples of Ichkeria and Dagestan (KNID) and headed the Islamic Peacekeeping Brigade (an armed formation of the KNID).

In August and September 1999, together with Shamil Basayev, he organized and led raids by Chechen-Dagestan militants on the territory of Dagestan.

“Until now, I have only fought against the army. Never fought against civilians. But after the events in Dagestan, not only the Russian soldier, but the entire Russian people will be responsible for their actions. Emir al-Khattab Czech journalists. - I came here at the call of my own heart and on the duty of a faithful Muslim, since the Koran openly speaks of the duty of a Muslim to participate in the struggle for the establishment of Islam ... I want to appeal to everyone who thinks that the Chechen war is over. They are deeply mistaken. Both the past and recent history of the Muslim highlanders knows many examples when the infidels asked for a long-term truce, and then violated it.

It was Khattab who was the link between the militants in Chechnya and international terrorist structures.

The Washington Post wrote in late 2001: "A Western diplomat who has been watching events in Chechnya said that the Russians want Maskhadov isolated and liquidated the Islamic part of the Chechen resistance, whose leaders are a mysterious militant from Jordan named Khattab and Chechen Shamil Basaev.

Khattab has received funds from Muslim charities in wealthy oil-producing countries for many years. However, it is unknown if Maskhadov is willing and able to fight the Islamic forces. According to the diplomat, at least 60% of the guerrilla forces belong to the Muslim group.”

They note that the defeat of the Taliban, inflicted on them by the forces of the Northern Alliance with the support of the United States, greatly influenced the emotional state Khattaba. Generally doom Khattaba preceded by a confusing story with his alleged intention to go to Afghanistan. It is noted that if he made these statements, it could be an attempt to confuse the Russian forces. On the other hand, there are claims that these statements were inspired Russian forces for the purpose of linking Khattaba With Osama bin Laden.

At the end of 2001, in Paris, Vladimir Rushailo told reporters: "We received reliable information about Khattab's negotiations with his field commanders that his plans include an appearance in Afghanistan in the near future," he also quoted the words Khattaba that he intends to "kill fat Americans" in Afghanistan.

« Khattab- A disciplined warrior. Mujahideen of the world scale and generally a wonderful guy ... Khattab does not show unnecessary independence. Like Basayev, [he] is the commander of a large group of units,” Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev spoke of him in late 2001.

First information about death Khattaba appeared in the press on April 11, 2002: “This can be said with a high degree of certainty, since in the last two Khattab did not show himself in any way: he did not get in touch, the actions of militants in the area controlled by Khattab are not coordinated. The probability of his death is also confirmed by the data of our informants,” one of the FSB officers who took part in the special operation said anonymously, he also said that “an agent from among the Arabs fighting in Chechnya, previously recruited by the special service of one of states of the CIS. Previously, reports of his death appeared in the media at least ten times.

Representatives of the FSB officially announced the "final" liquidation of Khattab on April 25, 2002: Head of Assistance Programs Department Federal Service security Alexander Zdanovich said that Khattab was killed as a result of an "undercover-combat operation", the same news was confirmed by presidential aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov. It was stated that 100% evidence of liquidation had been obtained and would be shown to the general public before May holidays, the pause was explained by the need to "get people involved in the operation out of a possible strike."

Liquidation Khattaba compared in value with the liquidation on April 21, 1996 Dzhokhar Dudayev, this is “the biggest success of the federal forces in Chechnya since the capture of Grozny,” wrote the Itogi magazine.

“The most odious, charismatic and, in part, semi-mythical figure in the leadership of the Chechen separatists,” she called Khattaba Vremya Novostey newspaper (04/26/2002), - “During the“ second Chechen campaign ”this man managed to earn all the epithets and“ merits ”possible for the leader of the militants, having long eclipsed in“ popularity ”with the special services and influence among colleagues Aslan Maskhadov».

The Russian court posthumously recognized Khattaba one of the customers of the terrorist attacks in Buynaksk, Moscow and Volgodonsk in 1999.

Khattab's involvement

• July 13, 1993 - an attack on the 12th outpost of the Moscow border detachment on the Tajik-Afghan border.

• October 1995 - Khattab's detachment attacked a checkpoint of Russian troops near locality Kharachoy.

• On April 16, 1996, near the Chechen village of Yaryshmardy, the Mujahideen under the command of Khattab defeated the column of the 245th motorized rifle regiment Russian army(Battle at Yaryshmarda).

• The capture of 28 soldiers of the internal troops of the Russian Federation in the village. Shuan.

• Together with his detachment, he took part in the storming of Grozny in August 1996 (Operation Jihad).

• Khattabu they attribute a terrorist act against doctors of the humanitarian mission of the Red Cross on December 17, 1996 in the village of Novye Atagi, when six people were shot by criminals.

• December 22, 1997 - an attack on the town of the 136th motorized rifle brigade in Buynaksk (Dagestan).

• August - September 1999 - organization and leadership, together with Shamil Basaev, of incursions of militants into Dagestan with the aim of armed support for local Islamic radicals. During the hostilities in Dagestan, there were explosions of residential buildings in Buynaksk, Moscow and Volgodonsk, the customer of which, as the court established, was Khattab.

• In March 2000, he led the breakthrough of militants from the "cauldron" in the Argun Gorge. One of the heavy battles took place on February 29 - March 1 near the village of Ulus-Kert, where militants led by Khattab were able to break through the encirclement, meeting on the way the 6th company of paratroopers of the Pskov Airborne Division (see Battle at Hill 776). According to federal forces, up to 2,500 militants broke through the combat formations of the 6th company, who eventually lost more than 500 people killed.
• A little later, the division Khattaba And Shamil Basaeva during the battle near the village of Dzhanni-Vedeno, a detachment of the Perm OMON was defeated, more than 40 police officers died, and 11 Perm OMON officers were captured. The Chechen side offered to exchange captured riot police for a colonel Budanov. The Russians refused and then the captured riot police were executed. At the same time, the command of the Mujahideen sentenced Budanov to death without a statute of limitations.

Personality

It is generally noted that he excelled in military skills and knew several languages: "he was a real expert in military affairs, well educated, spoke Pashtun, English and Russian." According to numerous testimonies, he limped on his left leg. They noted his passion for video filming.

Personal life

It is pointed out that Shamil Basayev's father Salman “granted Khattab his house in Dyshne-Vedeno and called him his son. So Shamil, in that period, unwittingly for himself, became the named brother of Khattab.

In 1996, he married a Dargin woman from the Kadar zone of Dagestan Fatima Bidagova, the daughters of a mukhtar - the elders of the Dargin village of Karamakhi.

Believe me, Dirham (money) is occupied by worshipers. Worshiping the West, this world, with work, and salary. But everything with Allah is better.

This false worship has resulted in generation after generation passing through the dead life of a routine that is akin to the life of an animal. They get up in the morning for breakfast, then they go to work, then to lunch, then home, then they go to bed... And life has no purpose.

Believe me, O Saleh, the meaning of their life was to obtain wealth and prosperity, an attempt to insure against troubles. But the troubles never end. Trouble with work, with wife, with children, with accommodation, and whenever one trouble is solved, another appears. They solve one trouble after another, and life ends, but the troubles remain.

From the message Khattaba to his son Saleh when he was 3 months old.

In order to adequately respond to the enemy, you need to know him as fully as possible, in detail and multifaceted. In combat conditions, the possession of the necessary information is not yet a guarantee of victory, but already the key to it.

Man without a past

In 2002, the earthly journey of one of the most dangerous Chechen terrorists, hiding under the name Khattab. What was the name of this person in fact - it is not known exactly. May be, Habib Abd al-Rahman, Maybe, Samer Saleh as-Suwaylem or somehow else - it is not known for sure to this day. He is believed to be from Saudi Arabia, but possibly from Jordan, Pakistan or even Yemen. He probably went to college in the US. In any case, he was well educated, knew at least three foreign languages, including Russian. He had serious knowledge in military affairs. His biography is so confused and surrounded by myths that Scheherazade could well tell stories about his adventures for another thousand and one nights. Especially those that were before the arrival of Khattab in Chechnya in 1995.

It would be a mistake to present Khattab as a banal adventurer. This man learned the covenant very well Winston Churchill: "Truth is so precious that it must be guarded by bodyguards of lies." Anyone who is hiding from the authorities knows that any person is easiest to find through his contacts. The past follows a person like a tail, and it can be caught by this tail. But what about a person who has no past? For special services, he is a mystery, a myth, a ghost.

Khattab was extremely cautious. He had an excellent flair and an extensive network of informers, including those in power and law enforcement agencies. Written by him for the Mujahideen, a brief and capacious manual on guerrilla war shows a high professional in his field. He was an ideological enemy of Russia, fought with the Shuravi back in Afghanistan, was a fanatical Islamist radical who sees the meaning of life in a holy war. If this knowledgeable and talented commander were on our side, he probably would have become a hero, but Khattab was an enemy, dangerous, bloodthirsty and merciless. And besides, through the "Black Arab", as they called him in Chechnya, there was a financial flow from Saudi Arabia - dollar fuel for the war in the Caucasus. Khattab had to be found and destroyed. Through thick and thin. Wherever he is.

Information about the death of Khattab appeared in the media at least ten times. Repeatedly, when the "emir of terrorists" needed to rest, he effectively "died" in order to resurrect no less effectively after a while. The invulnerability of the dodgy terrorist got on the nerves of the entire personnel of the Russian troops of the North Caucasus Military District. He seemed to sneer at the attempts of the army and special services to catch or destroy him.

Carrier pigeons of the Chechen kite

Surrounded by bodyguards, out of control of anyone in Chechnya, Khattab remained a very difficult target. Taught by experience Dzhokhar Dudayev, tracked by the signal mobile phone, he did not use this connection. All orders were given to them through trusted people, all communication with foreign sponsors was a baton. Packages with correspondence were delivered from one base to another. Not a single “postman” knew anyone except those with whom he had to communicate directly, but he himself was under the covert supervision of an insurer who was supposed to let you know if something happened to the messenger. At the same time, each of the participants in this “postal” network tried not to attract the attention of local authorities in any way. The messenger could even cooperate with the Russian command and ensure peace in a particular village - the main thing is that he should be able to quickly and without interference deliver the package at the right time to the right place.

In addition, several different “fake letters” were simultaneously sent from the foreign center, which went through spare chains, but did not reach the “addressee”. A trusted breaker agent would receive them, examine them for screening, and destroy them. With this, enemy intelligence sprayed the attention of counterintelligence officers, and at the same time checked the reliability of their postal "path".

Alas, any system based on the actions of living people is unreliable. At some point, when a high reward was placed on the head of the "Brigadier General of Ichkeria", a man was found in the chain who agreed to help in the elimination of Khattab. Some believe that there was a purely financial motivation here, but do not forget that Khattab was a manic killer fanatic, and many people even in his environment had very serious personal claims against the Black Arab.

Be that as it may, they managed to find a weak link in the chain - and even ensure that it becomes the final one in front of the "amir" hiding in the mountains. When the instructions from Saudi Arabia arrived, the agent gave the signal that Moscow had long been waiting for. A unique specialist in poisons was brought to Grozny by a special aircraft. He was given only one night to work - in the morning a messenger was supposed to come from the mountains for a package. The task assigned by the administration to the “special purpose” chemist was completely non-trivial. The envelope had to be treated with a potent contact poison in such a way that it would work in two or three days (the agent and his family should have remained beyond suspicion), leave no marks on the paper, and not be felt by a delicate canine scent. Cautious Khattab, fearing poisoning, whenever possible let the dog sniff the letter. As subsequent events showed, the work was done perfectly.

Amir from Iblis

The package did not arouse suspicion, was delivered to the addressee, read and burned. Further, as always in such cases, Khattab began to quickly change the location of his camp. The old axiom of a saboteur says: "Stopping is death!". But this time it was not destined to overtake the eyeless "Black Arab".

The operatives are lucky. Leaving the parking lot, the bodyguards of the “brigadier general” stumbled upon early spring morels. With food, the group was tense, and therefore the mushrooms were immediately put into action. So, when the poison began to act, the followers of Khattab decided that among the morels they missed a toadstool. Three days later, on March 20, 2002, the "Black Arab" died in agony.

His bodyguards would still believe in the "mushroom" version, if the rest, all those who at least briefly held the envelope in their hands, did not follow the "amir" in the coming days. The dose of poison they received was much less, but nonetheless absolutely lethal. In total, five people died.

Among them was one who agreed to help destroy the Saudi ghoul. In order to achieve the goal, like a real warrior, he sacrificed his life.

Life in Chechnya began to improve.