Local Chechen Militant Chief Killed

22 August 2005 -- Officials say Chechnya's law-enforcement bodies have killed the self-designated "emir" of the Urus-Martan Raion, Ruslan Vakhayev.
The Interior Ministry's press center in the North Caucasus said Vakhayev was responsible for an attack on the village of Roshni-Chu earlier this month, killing the commander of Urus-Martan, Colonel Aleksandr Kayak.

Meanwhile, in southern Chechnya, a local official, Ramzan Tasukhanov, said a gun battle has wounded five paramilitary soldiers and a local resident.

Pro-Moscow security forces were searching for gunmen in the Shali area when the firing erupted outside a house yesterday evening.

(ITAR-TASS/AP)