EMIR KHATTAB RESPONSIBLE FOR CONVOY ATTACK ON CONVOY IN NORTH OSSETIA.

Investigators of the Military Prosecutor’s Office’s Main Directorate in the Northern Caucasus working on the case of the raid on the Russian military convoy in North Ossetia are reported to be increasingly convinced that the raid was the work of Chechen field commander Emir Khattab. A year ago, they allege, the Jordanian-born Khattab set up a school to train Chechens and residents of other North Caucasus republics to carry out acts of sabotage. According to the newspaper Kommersant-daily, the demands of Russia’s Interior Minister Sergei Stepashin for Khattab to be turned over to the federal authorities are unrealistic, since Khattab enjoys the support of the Chechen leadership and of President Aslan Maskhadov. (Kommersant-daily, April 25)

CUSTOMS UNION SUMMIT.