Identification of Basayev remains unnecessary - Ivanov
12/07/2006 14:40 ROSTOV-ON-DON, July 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's defense minister suggested Wednesday there was no need to hold DNA tests on the remains of Russia's most wanted man, Shamil Basayev.
News that Basayev, who claimed responsibility for the 2004 Beslan school massacre and other atrocities, had died broke on Monday when the head of the Federal Security Service said the terrorist had been killed during the night in a special operation in the North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia.
"There is not even a slightest doubt that Basayev was killed," said Sergei Ivanov, who is also a deputy prime minister. "Therefore, a question arises: Do we really need to conduct the identification [procedure]?"
A militant Web site has also confirmed Basayev's death.
But Ivanov said that the Defense Ministry was ready to hold the expertise if the security services requested.
The September 2004 Beslan school siege in the southern Russian republic of North Ossetia led to the deaths of 331 people including 186 children.
Basayev also claimed responsibility for masterminding the 2002 Moscow theatre siege, which claimed the lives of 130 people. He also led an attack on a hospital in the southern city of Budyonnovsk, where terrorists took more than 1,500 hostages for five days, in June 1999.
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