MOSCOW: A Muslim militant who was supposedly killed during the carnage that ended the Beslan school siege has been “resurrected” by Russian investigators as a suspect in the assassination of a high-ranking government official.

Ali Taziyev, also known by the codename Magas, was allegedly one of the 41 hostage takers who stormed school No 1 in Beslan in September 2004.

According to the official account of the siege, only one militant, Nurpashi Kulayev, survived. He was captured near the school and is almost certain to be found guilty on charges of murder and terrorism this week. The Kremlin has consistently claimed all other members of the gang — mostly from Chechnya and neighbouring Ingushetia — were killed. But investigators now suspect that Magas is one of two people involved in organising of the assassination of the Ingush deputy interior minister, Dzhabrail Kostoyev, who died in a suicide car bombing that killed six others last Wednesday.

“It seems that in Russia the terrorists destroyed by the federal forces don’t die but are transformed into zombies and continue executing their black affairs,” one newspaper said mockingly.

Police refused to comment on the investigation but earlier a senior officer told Itar Tass news agency they suspected Magas of involvement in Mr Kostoyev’s killing. After the Beslan siege, Ingushetia’s interior ministry said the gang leader had been a Chechen nicknamed Colonel, and one of his senior lieutenants was a former Ingush police officer, Ali Taziyev — Magas — who had joined the Chechen rebels.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service