'19 failed attempts' on Yamadayev

The former Chechen warlord who was killed in Dubai on Saturday had survived 19 previous attempts on his life.

DUBAI // Police disclosed yesterday that the former Chechen warlord who was shot and killed on Saturday had survived 19 previous attempts on his life before he moved to Dubai, even as the victim's family continued to insist that he had only been wounded and was still alive. It also emerged that the victim, Sulim Yamadayev, 36, had been living in the city with his wife and six children in a flat owned by the family. Earlier, police said Yamadayev had "retired" and moved to Dubai four months ago.

A police source said that despite the presence of two unarmed bodyguards, Yamadayev was unable to escape the 20th assassination attempt. "There were 19 failed assassinations," the source said, "and they succeeded in the 20th." According to the police, Yamadayev, a former Chechen rebel fighter who switched sides to fight for the Russians, was shot in the back of the head on Saturday afternoon in the car park of his apartment block at Jumeirah Beach Residence.

"No one is allowed to carry a gun here except for national security officers, and that's why his bodyguards were unarmed and couldn't defend him," the police source said. Meanwhile, Yamadayev's extended family continued to insist yesterday that he was alive and recovering from the attack in a Dubai hospital. The police remain adamant that Yamadayev died at the scene, with one senior official saying Yamadayev had been buried yesterday at Al Quoz cemetery.

Six hospitals in Dubai, when contacted by The National, said they did not have a patient by the name of Yamadayev. Bloomberg News quoted Dr Ben Omran, whom it identified as an official at the police morgue, as saying that Yamadayev's body had been released to his family. Ziad Spassibi, a senator who represents Chechnya in the upper house of the Russian parliament, also supported the police account. "Unfortunately, he is dead and has been buried in Dubai," he told the Russian Interfax news agency. "He was buried on Monday in the Al Quoz cemetery in Dubai at 3pm local time. This information is from official channels in the United Arab Emirates."

According to Interfax, some Russian media have speculated that the police are trying to protect a wounded Yamadayev while they hunt for the culprits. Bloomberg News also reported that Yamadayev's younger brother, Isa, was continuing to insist that his brother had survived the attack. He visited his brother in hospital yesterday for the third day, Isa Yamadayev said, and doctors told him that his brother's life was not in danger.

Later, Agence France-Presse reported that a Russian television station had carried an interview with Isa Yamadayev, again claiming his brother was alive. "He feels fine," he reportedly told NTV in a telephone interview from Dubai. "The doctors do not let us talk with him for a long time. They also said nothing threatens his life. Everything will be fine." The victim's wife, Milana, and six children are believed to be in Dubai, but it is unclear if they are staying in the apartment, which is said to be registered in the name of Yamadayev's wife.

Kommersant, a Russian newspaper, quoted Milana as saying that she, too, had seen her husband alive in hospital yesterday. @Email:[e-mail]