In addition to the unexpected re-appearance of Sawt al-Jihad, just released on the internet is another new magazine, aimed at those the Arab mujahideen fighting in the Caucasus, or sympathizers following the events in the region, entitled Sawt al-Qoqaz (The Voice of the Caucasus). Modeled... MORE

A flurry of interest was expressed at the beginning of the month in the contents of a 7-page letter, apparently from a Sumatra-based operative of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamyiah (JI), detailing the training of militants for suicide bombings in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. If authentic,... MORE

--CONTROVERSIAL BOOK IS CONFISCATED The FSB and Moscow police have confiscated several thousand copies of Aleksandr Litvinenko's book, "The FSB Explodes Russia," according to Aleksandr Podrabinek, editor in chief of the Prima information agency. Podrabinek told the radio station Ekho Moskvy that his agency had... MORE

--ATTACKS INCREASING IN CHECHNYA? Contrary to the image of "normalization" projected by the Kremlin, the number of rebel attacks in Chechnya classified by the Kadyrov administration as "terrorist" rose by more than 50 percent from 2002 to 2003. In the year just ended the total... MORE

--SECURITY SWEEP LEADS TO BLOODSHED Police of the Kadyrov administration came under rebel gunfire last weekend as they conducted a "zachistka" security sweep in eastern Chechnya's Kurchaloy district. An administration official told the Associated Press that one policeman was killed and two wounded in the... MORE

—POPOV TO RUN FOR GOVERNOR? A new job outside Chechnya may have been lined up for Anatoly Popov, now clearly on his way out as the Kadyrov administration’s prime minister (see Chechnya Weekly, January 14). According to a February 11 article in Moskovskie novosti, Popov... MORE

--LIMITED RETURN FOR OSCE TO CHECHNYA The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe may be about to reopen its office in Chechnya--but will have difficulty reviving its human rights monitoring. In a joint press conference in Moscow on February 17, Russian Foreign Minister Igor... MORE

--KICKBACKS TO KADYROV Requesting anonymity, several members of the Kadyrov administration's police have told Timur Aliev of Prague Watchdog that they have to pay substantial kickbacks to Ramzan Kadyrov, head of his father's private army. Aliev wrote in a March 3 article that such payments... MORE

--KIDNAPPINGS ARE HIGHLIGHTED From the beginning of January through mid-March at least sixty-three Chechen civilians have been kidnapped, according to the Moscow-based human rights center Memorial. Of that total, twenty-six have since been released and two have been found dead. The fate of another thirty-five... MORE