Russian federal troops killed Akhmed Basnukayev, a notorious Chechen rebel leader, in the southern republic of Ingushetia, Interfax News Agency reported Thursday.  

A patrol of the Russian Federal Security Service stopped Basnukayev's car for inspection on Wednesday. When Basnukayev tried to put up armed resistance, the soldiers shot him dead.

None of servicemen was hurt in the operation, Col. Ilya Shabalkin, an official in charge of Russia's anti-terrorist campaign in the North Caucasus region was quoted as saying.

Eight kilograms of handmade explosives packed in black plastic bags were found in the car.

Basnukayev, 41, commander of the rebel group Urus-Martan Front in Ingushetia, which borders the Chechen Republic, was also a member of the so-called Majlis Ul-Shura Mujaheddin rebel organization led by Arab mercenary Abu Al-Walid.

He had close ties with other Chechen rebel leaders Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev.

Basnukayev was on the federal wanted list for his suspected role in killing 30 people and organizing many terrorist attacks that claimed more than 200 lives in Moscow, Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan.

His followers, suspected of killing Chechen people who cooperate with the federal authorities in the war-torn republic, mainly operated in the Urus-Martan and Achkhoi-Martan districts of Chechnya and made sporadic incursions into Ingushetia.

(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2004)