MOSCOW, March 8: Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov has been killed by Russian troops fighting to quell a long independence movement in the mainly Muslim Caucasus region, the Russian army announced on Tuesday.

The death of Aslan Maskhadov, 53, would boost Russian President Vladimir Putin, who built his power largely on a tough line against the Chechen fighters. The armed campaign which Maskhadov led had brought bombings to the very heart of Russia.

Russian television showed what it said was Maskhadov lying, bare-chested on his back in a pool of blood, with his arms spread out on either side. There was what appeared to be a bullet mark in his left cheek.

"A special operation was carried out by us in the village of Tolstoy-Yurt as a result of which the international terrorist and leader of the rebel group Aslan Maskhadov was killed," FSB Security Service chief Nikolai Patrushev told President Vladimir Putin. Tolstoy-Yurt is 20kms north of Grozny.

Four close comrades of Maskhadov had been detained, Patrushev was shown on television telling Mr Putin. He added that there had been no casualties among Russian security forces.

Mr Putin asked Mr Patrushev to double-check the report of Mr Maskhadov's death. The Chechen leader's envoy in London, Akhmed Zakayev, said he had no hard information but he thought the reports were true. Moscow blames Mr Maskhadov, who has a 10 million dollars reward on his head, for a string of deadly operations in Russia. -Reuters