There is a world of meaning behind the name of Islambuli it has taken, Mr. Karmon said in a Novosti interview. Haled Islambuli was among the masterminds of the 1981 assassination of Egypt's President Anwar Sadat. Islamists made the Egyptian fundamentalist's name a banner under which they fight secular authorities, whether in Egypt or Russia. They certainly expect the name to muster Arab radicals under it.
More than that, Haled Islambuli's brother is known to be now in hiding in Afghanistan or Pakistan. He has close links with the Islamic Jihad-an Egyptian extremist group, and with Al Qayeda chieftains.
Significantly, Basayev, who remains key personality with Chechen rebels, was trained in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and has contacts with the Al Qayeda.
The Israeli expert does not rule out Arab involvement in the latest terror acts in Russia. At any rate, Arab extremists are prominent in Chechen paramilitary action, he remarked.
Anti-terror combat is a long war. One military campaign cannot bring victory in it. Armed action must go hand in hand with political to eradicate terror. Mr. Karmon is firm on that point.
Many Chechens are involved in political developments in the republic. Last Sunday's presidential election has proved public political activism, which our interviewee regards as a trend worth to be encouraged.
Two passenger jets-a TU 134 and a TU 154-started from Moscow's Domodedovo airport, August 24. Both crushed in terror acts the same day to kill ninety.
A suicide terrorist woman made a blast last night, August 31, close to the Rizhskaya metro station in Moscow. Nine died, and 46 were injured.
The Islambuli Brigades, related to the Al Qayeda, have owned up the three acts.
Terrorists seized a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, today. There are close on 120 hostages on the premises, says the latest information. Two hostages were killed and another two wounded, reports North Ossetia's Interior Ministry.
