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Another week, another act of terrorism somewhere in the world. After being overshadowed over the past few years by everything from Osama to Iraq to Bali, Chechen rebels who desperately wanted to remind the world that a war is still going on in the breakaway republic of Chechnya did so in dramatic fashion. Declaring their readiness to die for their cause, Chechen rebels captured 700 people in a Moscow theater and threatened to begin killing them if Russia does not withdraw troops from Chechnya within a week. “I swear by God we are more keen on dying than you are keen on living,” said one of the hostage-takers in a video shown on al-Jazeera. “Each one of us is willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of God and the independence of Chechnya.” Even though the conflict has been out of the public eye, the war in Chechnya never really ended, with battles between rebels and the Russian army continuing to this day. The action was the latest in a string of embarassments for President Vladmir Putin, who rose to power on his hardline stance on Chechnya and spent the last few months claiming the war was over. (Other embarassments include the sinking of the Kursk submarine and getting his ass kicked by a Japanese schoolgirl). Meanwhile, the standoff continues for a third day as the rebels released all the women, children, foreigners, and (cringe) Muslims from the crowd (but also killed one hostage and shot at two women who escaped). Though a Chechen member of the Russian parliament is negotiating with the rebels, Russia is unlikely to give in to the demands, and Chechnya’s separatist president Aslan Maskhadov categorically rejected the takeover.
Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.
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