Militant Leader Says All Russia Is A 'Battleground'

Chechen Islamist rebel leader Doku Umarov

The leader of an Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus says Osama bin Laden's death will not stop violence and called Russia a "battleground."

Doku Umarov leads an insurgency seeking to carve out a "Caucasus Emirate" comprising war-scarred Chechnya and other mainly Muslim regions in the North Caucasus.

Umarov said in an interview posted on May 17 on insurgency-affiliated site kavkazcenter.com that "the battlefield is not just Chechnya or the Caucasus Emirate, but the whole of Russia."

Umarov has claimed responsibility for attacks elsewhere in Russia, including a suicide bombing that killed 37 people at Moscow's busiest airport in January and twin bombings that killed 40 on Moscow's metro in March 2010.

Reuters