Author:
Publication: The Indian
Express
Date: November 15, 2000
Islamic extremists have
got another Osama Bin Laden! Moscow's popular daily, Nezavisimaya Gazeta
, has quoted Omar Baqr Ahmed, a Britain-based Syrian, as having told a
news conference in London he had forwarded a hundred thousand pounds to
Muslim fighters in Chechnya and that the international Islamic outfit he
headed had militant training centres both in the UK and the US.
Pakistanis, Afghans,
and Turks underwent intensive training at these centres before they left
for Chechnya, which received 200 militants belonging to his outfit every
year, he said.
According to Russian
defence sources, up to 1,500-2,000 foreign mercenaries were at present
fighting in the restive province against federal forces.
Ahmed's Islamic militant
organisation, the pro-west paper said in its Monday edition, is banned
in his home country. UNI