Maskhadov murdered NIKOLAI Patrushev, the head of Russia's internal security forces, the FSB, informed Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that Chechen separatist leader had been killed. Putin called for further investigations into how Maskhadov had died in the Chechen village of Tolstoy-Yurt, and pledged to honour Russian forces involved in the raid. Few details have been released of the Russian special forces operation near the Chechen capital, Grozny. Russian television broadcast pictures of the 53-year-old's half-naked corpse, lying in a pool of his own blood. Chechnya's Moscow-appointed deputy prime minister, Ramzan Kadyrov, told Russia's Interfax news agency the intention had been to take Maskhadov alive, but he had been killed as a result of his bodyguards' carelessness in handling their weapons. The killing of Maskhadov will not end resistance to Russian rule in Chechnya, his main envoy has said. Russian troops stormed into the breakaway North Caucasus republic of Chechnya 10 years ago to crush a separatist revolt. Akhmed Zakayev added that a successor would be chosen within days. Maskhadov, who was elected president of Chechnya in 1997, was killed by Russian troops in a raid on Tuesday. He was seen as the most moderate of Chechnya's rebel commanders after distancing himself from a string of terror attacks and calling for talks. Zakayev, who is based in London, said: "The resistance will continue, no doubt about it." A "military committee" would choose a successor to Maskhadov. Maskhadov, a former Soviet general, was branded a terrorist by Moscow for his involvement in the war in Chechnya. He led Chechen separatists who defeated Russian forces in a 1994-1996 war, and was elected Chechen president in January 1997. But he was ousted from power when Putin sent Russian troops back into Chechnya in October 1999. He denied involvement in attacks by separatist guerrillas, including last year's Beslan school siege and the 2002 Moscow theatre seizure. Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev -- Moscow's most wanted man -- claimed responsibility for those attacks. Maskhadov had repeatedly called for talks, and said just last week that all he needed to bring a peaceful end to the conflict was one "30-minute, fair, face-to-face dialogue" with Putin. But, Moscow rejected his overtures, refusing to negotiate with what it described as wanted terrorists. Nepalese enigma THE NEPALESE monarch's step to extend the house arrest of political leaders -- including two former prime ministers of the Himalayan Kingdom -- has been widely condemned by exiled Nepalese politicians in India, reports Rajeshree Sisodia in New Delhi. King Gyanendra, who on 1 February seized absolute control of Nepal and placed scores of politicians under house arrest, on Friday 4 March announced he had extended the politicians' house arrest by two months. Former Nepalese prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala, leader of the Nepali Congress Party (NC), and Sher Bahadur Deuba, who was dismissed as prime minister of Nepal's coalition-led government a month ago, are among the leaders who remain under house arrest. Koirala's daughter Sujata Koirala, an NC member, condemned the monarch's draconian measures from the Indian capital New Delhi where she and other Nepalese politicians have fled to galvanise international political opposition against the king's coup. "I am surprised and shocked by the king's behaviour," said Koirala, who has met with leading Indian politicians and later this month plans to travel to Bangkok to rally political support in Thailand. "We will fight it." The decision to extend house arrest, confirmed by Nepalese Royal Palace officials, signals King Gyanendra's increasingly vice-like grip over the country. Nepalese government official Baman Prasad Neupane said the monarch had initially planned to keep the political leaders, including Madhav Nepal from the United Marxist Leninist Communist Party of Nepal, and former ministers Bharat Mohan Adhikaro and Puna Bahadur Khadka, under house arrest for a month under the Public Security Act. "... Now after completion of a month, it is felt their house arrest cannot be lifted immediately so it has been extended by two months," he told Agence France Presse. Neupane said the leaders were in good health but were not allowed visitors. After seizing control last month, a move the king justified as the only way to end the civil war raging between pro- republic Maoist rebels and Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) forces loyal to the king, he muzzled the Nepalese press, abolished basic human rights including the freedom to assemble in public and freedom of speech and only this week banned reporting of the Maoist insurgency unless the information had been supplied by his own army officials. Privately Nepalese politicians believe it is only a matter of time before the king is ousted and the country becomes a republic. Officials from Amnesty International (AI), after meeting with King Gyanendra last month (February), urged the international community to withdraw military support to the 78,000-strong RNA. New Delhi, which has maintained it supports democratic stability in Nepal, recently announced it had frozen military assistance to its neighbour since 1 February. Britain and the United States have also pledged to review military aid to Nepal.
