Maskhadov dead?

Holy fashizzle!

“I confirm that Maskhadov was killed in the village of Tolstoi-Yurt,” Gen Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for the Russian troop headquarters in the region, was quoted by several Russian news agencies as saying on Tuesday.

EDIT: This story is still developing. Keep your eye on ChechenPress to see what they have to say.

EDIT #2: Curzon says I should point out who Maskhadov is to the non-Caucasus-wonk crowd. Here is a mini-bio:

Aslan Alivitch Maskhadov, an ethnic Chechen born in Kazakhstan and educated in Tbilisi and Leningrad, served in the Chechen Armed Forces from 1992 to 1996 as the Chief of Staff for the Chechen army after serving in the Far East and Hungary during Soviet times. Highly respected as a fighter Maskhadov became president of Chechnya in 1997, defeating the infamous Shamil Basayev. After Basayev’s foray into neighbouring Dagestan, Russia said he had lost power and he went on the run to become Official Chechen rebel leader. In other words, this dude is a serious player in Chechen affairs. That is why this is a big deal.

Here is a profile on the BBC for those wanted by Russia for Beslan.

Seems Wikipedia has already marked him down as dead.

EDIT #3: Seems Andy has some more info and a link to the BBC showing Maskhadov’s dead body on TV. Looks to be confirmed