Russian secret services in Chechnya have killed a senior al Qaeda representative in Chechnya, head of the regional headquarters in control of the anti-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus said on Friday.

The militant, identified as Jaber, was killed in a special operation launched by an army elite reconnaissance unit near the village of Avtury, Shali district, on Nov. 11. He was reportedly al Qaeda's mastermind and financier of recent high-profile terrorist attack in the republic, head of the regional headquarters Col-Gen Arkady Yedelev told Itar-Tass news agency.

Jaber organized terrorist attacks in Znamenskoye and Grozny, and is behind the attack on the village of Roshni-Chu in August, according to the Russian media.

The general said illegal armed group received a large financial blow recently, which is directly linked with the gangs' attempt to unsettle the situation in the republic ahead of the parliamentary election scheduled on Nov. 27.

Jaber has been heading a group of foreign mercenaries since 2001, which smuggled gunmen from Georgia's Pankisi Gorge into Russia. He was also the successor to Abu al Walid, an Arab mercenary who in turn, took over from Khattab.

Source: Xinhua