Russian security forces Saturday killed a top militant suspected of organising the deadly attacks on the Moscow metro and who was reportedly married to one of the female suicide bombers. Magomedali Vagabov was killed in a clash with security forces in the Caucasus region of Dagestan that left four other militants dead, the national anti-terror committee said in a statement published by Russian news agencies.
The double bombings carried out by two female suicide bombers on the Moscow metro on March 29 killed 40 and wounded more than 100. "Vagabov was the organiser of the suicide bombings on the Moscow metro, was actively involved in recruiting youth for the underground and organised the training for the suicide bombers," the committee said.
He was described in the official statement as the number two figure in the Islamist-inspired insurgency that has plagued the Russian Northern Caucasus over the last years, after its overall leader Doku Umarov. The clash, described as being brief, took place in the village of Gunib - in the mountains of Dagestan south-west of the local capital Makhachkala - where the militants were holed up in a house.
"Once the fire from the building was put out, one of the corpses was identified as Magomedali Vagabov," the statement said. According to some reports, Vagabov was the husband of Mariam Sharipova, one of the metro suicide bombers.
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