Russian commandos killed the Islamic Caucasus Emirate's second in command during a nighttime raid earlier this week. In addition, a physician known to accompany the terror group's top leader is said to have also been killed during the raid.The Islamic Caucasus Emirate confirmed that Emir Supyan, the deputy to Doku Umarov, the leader of the al Qaeda-linked terror group, was killed. Supyan's death was confirmed in a martydom statement released at Kavkaz Center, a propaganda outlet for the Caucasus Emirate.
While the announcement of Supyan's death did not explicitly state that he was killed during the Russian raid, the date of his death was listed as March 28, 2011, the same day that Russian commandos stormed a compound in Ingushetia. Seventeen Caucasus Emirate members and three policemen were killed during the clash. Earlier this week, reports speculated that Umarov, Supyan, and Khazmat, the head of the Caucasus Emirate's suicide squads, were killed during the raid.
Supyan was a longtime jihadist who "went to the Jihad on November 26, 1994." Kavkaz Center described him as an "experienced teacher, scout and commander" who "trained hundreds of young Mujahideen in warfare, Islam and Jihad." He led forces against the Russians during both battles for Grozny in the 1990s, in which Russian armored forces and infantry were chewed up in deadly urban fighting.