Ruth
The Living Force
Who would have thought that the Russians had the same problem that the US had with al-Zarqawi? These dead dudes sure do get around. Maybe they'll just have to end up 'killing' him some more. I'm not sure how many times this man has 'died', officially, that is. Nobody is really sure, but maybe the last time he died was at Beslan. It sure is a dangerous thing to have a common name.
http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=11550948
http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=11550948
Name: "Magas"
Location: Ingushetia/Chechnya
Affiliation: Chechen rebel army
Profession: guerrilla fighter
Born: 1974/1972
Died: October 10, 1998, June 2004, September 2004, or possibly not at all
Claim to Fame: has been portrayed by more men than Doctor Who
Body Count: unknown
Other: aka Magomed Yevloyev, Ali Taziyev
DURING THE FIRST CHECHEN War, the Russians had the whimsical habit of announcing the death of certain Chechen commanders who would rise from the grave a month later to smash an armoured tank column, bust their pals out of jail or otherwise spread havoc among the living. From the curious story of one Magomed Yevloyev, aka "Magas," the quality, if not the quantity of intelligence material the average Russian commander in Chechnya is given to work with hasn't gotten much better.
After announcing that Yevloyev was killed during the June 2004 raids by Chechen rebels into Ingushetia, the Russians were forced to acknowledge that not only is he very much alive, but he isn't Magomed Yevloyev at all. Or not the right one. According to their latest "intelligence," the name at the top of this page is 100% wrong. The real Magas, as it turns out, has officially been dead since 2001, though he is actually very much alive. Or was, because he really might be dead now, the third time it's been announced.
Confused? Well, at least it isn't your job to be informed about things like this. Imagine how embarrassed they must feel.
The Russian security service, or FSB, claimed in early 2004 that the man fighting under the nom de guerre Magas (the name of a city in neighbouring Ingushetia) was one Magomed Yevloyev, a 32 year old ethnic Ingush. He had passed a tutorial in mayhem at the knee of Shamil Basayev, they said, and participated directly in the August 1999 invasion of Dagestan with Basayev, Ibn-ul-Khattab and their madcap crew of Wahhabi Pranksters.
The same FSB was exultant when their press spokesman in Chechnya (hey, it's a sign of progress that they have one of those now) announced that Yevloyev was one of the few insurgent casualties during the June raids in Ingushetia in which more than 100 people, mostly FSB, police and Interior Ministry officials, were killed.
A few days later, however, the same official was forced to correct himself: the Russians had killed a Magomed Yevloyev, he said, but possibly not the Magomed Yevloyev in question. According to the FSB, they have identified no fewer than seven Magomed Yevloyevs in Ingushetia alone. Apparently, "Magomed Yevloyev" is the John Smith of the Russian southern territories.
The misidentification was supposedly confirmed when witnesses identified Magomed Yevloyev, alias Magas, as one of the few terrorists without a mask holding children, parents and teachers hostage during the Beslan school tragedy in early September 2004.
There has since been no positive identification of Magas' body in the blown-out husk of the school, although there has been another "correction" of a past misidentification. Apparently, the name Magomed Yevloyev was incorrect all along: "Magas" was none of the seven Magomed Yevloyevs from Ingushetia. Instead, he is (or was) a man who disappeared from the public eye six years ago, and was declared legally dead by his family in Ingushetia more than three years ago.
According to the FSB's new positive ID, "Magas," n