Tarkhan Gaziyev
[1] During the Second Chechen War, Gaziyev held a number of top military positions in Chechnya's armed underground resistance, commanding a squad of several dozen militants that operated mainly in the Achkoi-Martan district.[1] Officially wanted by federal authorities since 14 May 2004, Gaziyev has established his rebel credentials by carrying out an array of attacks on Russian security forces and local pro-Moscow authorities, including:[1] Virtually every insurgent operation conducted in the Itum-Kale district from 2002–2011, as well as all operations undertaken in the Achkoi-Martan district from 2007-2011 are alleged to be attributable to Gaziyev; altogether, he has led sub-units on dozens of missions in the past decade.[3] Gaziyev was named commander of the Southwest Front of the Armed Forces of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria by rebel leader Dokka Umarov on 24 September 2006,[1] and was later appointed head of the National Security Service at the beginning of March 2007."[7] Gaziyev would also define the goals of the Chechen nationalists as "cleansing our country of the enemies of Allah, establishing Sharia law to defend the poor and disadvantaged, and bringing up our future generation in the Muslim faith.[9] On 23 April 2012, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty speculated that the most logical reason for Gazyiev's absence from the meeting was that his fighters staged 14 or 15 attacks in the uplands southwest of Grozny between mid-April and late-June 2011.