Chechen law enforcers check information about Umarov's death

Power agents of Chechnya check information about possible death of the militant leader Dokku Umarov, a source from law enforcement bodies said today.

"In the past few days our operative agents fixed rumours spread by residents of mountainous areas of Chechnya about possible death of Dokku Umarov, leader of the few remaining militants," said the source. "It's hard to say so far how real these rumours are; however, there's also no logic to leave them without attention."

According to the source, attempts are being made to establish whether the rumours reflect the real fact, or they were deliberately provoked by Umarov's retinue, with the aim to divert attention from him, the "Interfax" reports.

"Few people doubt that Umarov is sick; and there are no immortal people," the source said. "It's quite likely that the frosts in the mountains could complicate the disease and resulted in bandits' leader death. Although his death could also be a result of some internal conflict, since nobody also doubts that such conflict exists."

A high-ranking source from one of Russian secret services said, in his turn, that so far the data about the possible death of the leader of Chechen militants Umarov are not supported by facts.