Chechen chief under threat of suicide attack

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, September 30, 2003

Chechen chief under threat of suicide attack

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Kremlin-backed Chechen administrative chief Akhmad Kadyrov, who is running for the imminent presidential election, said Monday that he was informed about a planned suicide attack on him, Interfax reported.

Information from secret channels indicated that three female suicide bombers would attack Kadyrov and suggested that he be more vigilant, said the Chechen chief, adding that he had faced more than 10 similar attacks.

Kadyrov, who temporarily transferred his post of acting president to Prime Minister Anatoly Popov in August, enjoys highest advantages to win the Oct. 5 election as one of his two main rivals dropped out and the other was forced off the vote by acourt ruling. His other challengers are largely unknown in Chechnya.

Kadyrov disclosed the information following Popov suffered food poisoning on Saturday, who is currently under medical treatment in Moscow.

Kadyrov confirmed Popov is recovering and will return to work in Grozny on Tuesday after a telephone conversation with him, but he said that he did not know how Popov was poisoned.

Popov felt sick after a lunch on Saturday in Chechnya's Gudermes, Chechnya's second largest city, where he attended a ceremony celebrating the launch of an oil pipeline. He was hospitalized in Chechnya on Saturday evening and transported to Moscow's Central Clinic Hospital early Monday for further treatment.

It is still unknown about the cause of the poisoning and the ongoing investigation will tell whether it is deliberate or accidental.

Chechen rebels have frequently staged attacks on local officials who are backed by Kremlin. As the Oct. 5 election draws near, the situation in the breakaway republic in Russia's North Caucasus becomes more acute.

Local police forces and troops have reinforced security for the election, which the Russian government regarded as a step toward peace after nearly a decade of war and chaos in the mostly Muslim region in southern Russia.

Russian forces withdrew from Chechnya after a 1994-96 war, leaving the region in separatist hands. They returned in 1999 following a series of deadly bombings and raids on a neighboring Russian region that were blamed on the rebels.

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