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Deputy Head of Chechen Administration Killed
Shamalu Deniyev, deputy head of the pro-federal Chechen administration, was killed Thursday night in a blast in the village of Avtury, Shali District of Chechnya, a Russian news agency reported Friday.
Deniyev was filming a TV show calling for peace and harmony in Chechnya at the local 10th TV channel, when a strong explosion shook the studio at 21:18 Moscow time (1718 GMT) Thursday night.
Deniyev died of head wounds on the way to hospital and a cameraman of the TV channel has been hospitalized with a serious back injury.
Deniyev was Chechen administration chief Akhmad Kadyrov's envoy for the Middle East and Africa and had the rank of deputy administration head, the Interfax said.
Russian presidential aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky said reports from various sources suggested Deniyev was killed in a planned rebel attack, not in an accident.
The death of Deniyev, described by people as an outstanding and vigorous man, is a blow to Kadyrov's administration, Yastrzhembsky said.
Colonel Akhmed Dakayev, chief of the Chechen Interior Department, said an investigation team is working at the scene, collecting evidence and questioning witnesses.
Deniyev, a native of the Avtury village, was a prominent theologian and public figure. He openly opposed former Chechen chief Dzhokhar Dudayev and had to leave the breakaway republic in 1992.
After Aslan Maskhdov came into power in 1997, Deniyev organized the opposition Adamalla political movement in Moscow and created a newspaper, which often strongly criticized the Maskhdov administration.
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