Chechen dies in Syria raid

The son of late Chechen rebel warlord Ruslan Gelayev has been killed in Syria by government forces battling a rebellion against president Bashar al-Assad, it was reported yesterday.

Rustam Gelayev was killed in the shelling of a mosque in Aleppo by forces loyal to Mr Assad earlier this month, according to the website chechenews.com. It said Mr Gelayev, 24, had joined a unit of ethnic Chechens fighting alongside Syrian rebels in a 17-month-old uprising against Moscow-allied Mr Assad.

Syria’s conflict pits Sunni Muslims against Mr Assad’s minority Alawite power structure. Chechens are Sunni Muslims.

Ruslan Gelayev, who fought Russian forces in the 1990s and 2000s, died after a gunfight with Russian border guards in 2004.