Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev assassinated

On June 17, 2006 Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev, the fourth President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, appointed in March 2005 after Aslan Maskhadov's death, was killed in Argun in a fire-fight with the FSB troops. According to the FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev, two members of the federal forces were killed and five were wounded in a firefight in which Sadulayev and his bodyguard were killed, and two others rebels escaped. In August 2006, rebel commander Isa Muskiev said the federals and the kadyrovtsy lost five men killed in the shootout, one of them shot by Sadulayev personally, and three fighters escaped.

The next day, June 18, Sadulayev was succeeded as head of the Chechen resistance by Dokku Umarov.

On June 20, 2006, the Russian human rights organization Memorial posted the findings of its investigation on the Kavkazky Uzel website. According to Memorial's version, Sadulayev's death was accidental; security officials did not know that he was in the house. Memorial reports that on June 17, about 10:00 a.m., a group of 12 FSB officers and local policemen approached a possible rebel safe house. They immediately came under gunfire as they entered the yard. Two of the servicemen were killed, and the group retreated after throwing a hand grenade into a window of the house. The grenade blast killed Abdul Halim. This version is contradicted by the official account

Agentura.Ru, March 2011