Jackal Shamil: 20 years ago, Russia's most ruthless terrorist was eliminated

Exactly 20 years ago, on the night of July 10, 2006, a special operation by the FSB put an end to the biography of Shamil Basaev in the Ingush village of Ekazhevo. The elimination of the organizer of the hostage-taking in Budennovsk, the Dubrovka tragedy, and the Beslan tragedy remains one of the most secretive operations of the Russian special services. We remember how the native of a Chechen village became the number one terrorist, why his elusiveness became a legend, and what decided the fate of the \"jackal\" on a summer night in 2006.

The Hour of Reckoning: How a KamAZ became the grave of a terrorist

A humid, moonless night in Ekazhevo. Three cars — two Zhiguli and a dusty KamAZ — hid in the shadows of trees near an unfinished house. Armed men stood by the truck. Hissing with whispers, they waited for the main event.

Out of the darkness, limping, emerged Basaev. With a silver beard, a gaunt face, but the same eyes — predatory, with a glint of excitement. He headed towards the KamAZ. This cargo — uncontrolled rocket shells, explosives — was supposed to be the main weapon in a new terror attack that Basaev timed to coincide with the G8 summit.

The terrorist wanted to inspect the batch personally. They opened the bed. Basaev peered into the truck, illuminating it with a flashlight. Piles of boxes, a faint glint of metal. He nodded approvingly. He didn't know that radio-controlled explosive devices had already been installed in the hull of the cars and boxes. They had been tracked for a long time through thermal imagers.

At 2:03 AM, a blast shattered the silence. Basaev died instantly. His body and the remains of 12 militants were collected around the area. Thus ended an 11-year manhunt for the man called the number one terrorist.

From Pioneer Tie to Aircraft Hijacker

Shamil Basaev was born in January 1965 in the Chechen village of Dzhishne-Vedeno. He was named after the legendary imam Shamil. In school, he wore a pioneer tie, engaged in sports, and dreamed of becoming a lawyer.

He served in the army in a fire brigade at an airport. After serving, he moved to Moscow, but failed the entrance exams for the law faculty of MGU three times. He worked as a security guard, sold computers, played football.

In August 1991, Basaev found himself at the White House, supporting Yeltsin. He believed that the victory of the GKCHP would put an end to Chechnya's independence. That summer, he supported Dzhokhar Dudayev and gathered his first detachment \"Vedeno\". But his fame came in November 1991 when he hijacked a passenger Tu-154 from Mineralnye Vody to Turkey. There were 178 hostages on board. In Ankara, he released everyone but managed to address the press. This was the only bloodless terror attack in his career.

Bloodthirsty Fame: From Budennovsk to Beslan

Basaev did not become the president of Chechnya — he lost to Dudayev. He created a diversionary detachment that fought in Nagorno-Karabakh and Abkhazia. It was there that his militants gained fame for their monstrous cruelty: they massacred entire families, recorded executions on camera.

In 1995, Basaev declared: \"We are ready to do anything for independence. Methods do not matter.\" And he kept his word.

• Budennovsk. 1995. Basaev's detachment stormed the city, capturing more than a thousand hostages in a hospital. The storming of the forces failed. The government went to negotiations and gave the militants a corridor for retreat. The victims of the attack were 129 people.
• Dagestan. 1999. Basaev and Khattab invaded the republic to create an Islamic state. But the local people did not support them. Federal forces and militiamen drove out the bandits. This began the second Chechen war.
• \"Nord-Ost\". 2002. A group of suicide bombers seized a theater center on Dubrovka. 912 people became hostages. The special forces used gas, killed all 40 terrorists, but 130 spectators died.
• Aircraft. 2004. Two suicide bombers blew up Tu-134 and Tu-154 flights from Moscow. 89 people died.
• Beslan. September 1-3, 2004. Militants stormed School No. 1 during the line-up. 1128 hostages — mainly children and their parents. For three days, they were without water and food in a booby-trapped sports hall. The victims were 334 people, including 186 children. This attack made Basaev a personal enemy of millions of Russians.
• Nalchik. 2005. 200 militants attacked the city's law enforcement agencies. The special forces suppressed the attack, but this was an attempt to repeat the scenario of Budennovsk.

Basaev also took responsibility for the assassination of Chechen President Akhmat Kadyrov in May 2004. The explosion at the stadium in Grozny took the life of the father of the current head of the republic.

The Hunt for the \"Uncatchable\"

Russian special services had been tracking Basaev since 1994. A bounty of 300 million rubles was placed on his head. The West included him in the list of Al-Qaeda terrorists.

In early 2000, the special operation \"Hunt for Wolves\" almost put an end to the hunt. During the storming of Grozny, the militants were left a false corridor, booby-trapped with mines. Dozens of bandits blew themselves up. Basaev's leg was blown off, but his comrades carried him on their shoulders. Snow and painkillers saved him, which he was injected with in huge doses.

After the injury, the terrorist became more cautious. He refused to use large detachments and satellite communication, constantly changed his place of residence and appearance. He used deaf couriers and notes. He hid in ordinary houses, passing himself off as a cripple. The network of informants was everywhere.

But the FSB waited patiently. And they waited.

Retribution: How the KamAZ became a grave

In the summer of 2006, Basaev was preparing a huge terror attack in Nazran for the G8 summit. He wanted to blow up the Interior Ministry complex in Ingushetia and cause a massacre. For this, he needed weapons.

The FSB intercepted the supply channel. An embedded agent gave the militants a KamAZ, packed not only with shells but also with explosives and detonators. More than 100 kilograms of TNT equivalent were waiting for their moment. When Basaev arrived at the car and looked into the truck, the special services pressed the button.

The explosion was so powerful that the body of the terrorist was identified only by a prosthetic limb and DNA.

Reaction and Consequences

FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev reported to President Putin. Vladimir Putin called the elimination of the terrorist a justified retribution for Beslan and other attacks. Chechnya's head Ramzan Kadyrov, who considered Basaev a blood enemy, said: \"He was a jackal, and he died like a jackal.\"

After his death, centralized resistance to militants in the North Caucasus effectively ended. Funding dried up, organized groups disintegrated. Basaev was the last charismatic leader capable of uniting bandits.

Twenty years after the elimination of \"the number one terrorist,\" his name remains a synonym for cruelty, and the FSB operation is an example of how patience and professionalism of special services put an end to even the longest and bloodiest stories.
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