(RIA Novosti) - Russia's No.1 terrorist Shamil Basayev has been killed in the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia, Russia's security chief said Monday.
"Basayev and a number of militants were eliminated in Ingushetia last night," Nikolai Patrushev, the head of the Federal Security Service (FSB), told President Vladimir Putin.
Basyev had claimed responsibility for the 2004 Beslan school massacre and other atrocities, reports Trend.
The siege of a school in Beslan in the southern Russian republic of North Ossetia in September 2004 led to the deaths of 331 people, including 186 children.
Patrushev said the operation had been a success after the FSB strengthened its positions overseas, mainly in countries where weapons were collected and delivered to Russia for terrorist attacks.