Most-wanted terrorist killed
The week's news at a glance.
Ekazhevo, Russia
Chechen militant Shamil Basayev, Russia’s most-wanted criminal, died this week in a massive explosion. He was loading dynamite onto a truck in the southern Russian province of Ingushetiya. Basayev, 41, was responsible for a series of terrorist atrocities, including the 2004 raid on a school in Beslan, where some 200 children died, and the bloody 2002 seizure of a Moscow theater. Basayev started out as a commander in the first Chechen war, but later broke with the mainstream separatist movement to conduct attacks on Russian civilians. Ingush authorities and Chechen sources said the explosion that killed Basayev was an accident; the Russian government claims it targeted the truck. “Basayev’s death is a landmark event,” Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said. “He was our bin Laden.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Book reviews: 'Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves' and 'Notes to John'
Feature The aughts' toxic pop culture and Joan Didion's most private pages
-
The FDA plans to embrace AI agencywide
In the Spotlight Rumors are swirling about a bespoke AI chatbot being developed for the FDA by OpenAI
-
Digital consent: Law targets deepfake and revenge porn
Feature The Senate has passed a new bill that will make it a crime to share explicit AI-generated images of minors and adults without consent