Russian media reports say Sulim Yamadayev, an opponent of Chechnya's Moscow-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov, has been shot and wounded in an assassination attempt in the United Arab Emirates.
The reports, citing relatives, could not be confirmed and appear to contradict earlier reports suggesting a Chechen by the name of Suleyman Madov was killed on March 28.
The later Russian reports said Yamadayev was badly wounded when he was attacked over the weekend.
Yamadayev is a former separatist rebel who, like Kadyrov, switched to the Russian side.
He challenged Kadyrov for control of Chechen security forces until 2008, when he was dismissed from the command of an elite battalion and fled Russia.
Sulim's brother, Ruslan, was killed by unidentified attackers in central Moscow in September.
Initial reports had quoted Dubai police Chief Dhahi Khalfan as saying Suleyman Madov had been "closely monitored" before his apparent assassination.
A spate of killings of high-profile Chechens in Moscow and abroad has alarmed exiles from the war-ravaged republic in southern Russia.
compiled from agency and Russian media reports
The reports, citing relatives, could not be confirmed and appear to contradict earlier reports suggesting a Chechen by the name of Suleyman Madov was killed on March 28.
The later Russian reports said Yamadayev was badly wounded when he was attacked over the weekend.
Yamadayev is a former separatist rebel who, like Kadyrov, switched to the Russian side.
He challenged Kadyrov for control of Chechen security forces until 2008, when he was dismissed from the command of an elite battalion and fled Russia.
Sulim's brother, Ruslan, was killed by unidentified attackers in central Moscow in September.
Initial reports had quoted Dubai police Chief Dhahi Khalfan as saying Suleyman Madov had been "closely monitored" before his apparent assassination.
A spate of killings of high-profile Chechens in Moscow and abroad has alarmed exiles from the war-ravaged republic in southern Russia.
compiled from agency and Russian media reports
