A reward of 10 million US dollars was paid for information pinpointing the location of Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said Tuesday.

"After announcing in September 2004 that a reward of 10 milliondollars would be paid for information on the whereabouts of the terrorist leader, FSB agencies turned to certain citizens who provided them with necessary information," the FSB was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

The FSB said these people helped establish the exact whereabouts of Maskhadov and other international terrorists in Chechnya.

"The above citizens have received a money reward in full and they will get assistance in case of their needing to move to some other Russian region or one of the Muslim countries," the FSB said.

The FSB confirmed that it will always be ready "to ensure the personal safety of citizens who offer reliable information on the whereabouts of terrorist leaders and to pay cash rewards to them".

The FSB also reaffirmed that 10 million dollars will be paid for information on the whereabouts of Chechen terrorist leader Shamil Basayev, Itar-Tass said.

Maskhadov was killed in an FSB operation in the Chechen villageof Tolstoy-Yurt last Tuesday.

The 10 million-US-dollar bounty was placed on Maskhadov after the Beslan school attack last September which left at least 330 people dead, half of them children.

Source: Xinhua