DUBAI, Feb 13: The former president of the Chechen republic, Zelimkhan Yanderbiyev, died on Friday when a bomb exploded next to his automobile in Qatar.

The explosion occurred as Mr Yanderbiyev, who had made his home in Qatar, was driving through the capital Doha after Friday prayers, Al Jazeera said. At least one other person in the former president's party died in the explosion.

The official Qatar News Agency quoted a source from the interior ministry as saying the explosion injured Mr Yanderbiyev's 13 year-old son. Russia for years has accused Zelimkhan Yanderbiyev of soliciting financial support in the Arab world for the struggle to create a Chechen state independent of Russia.

The former president also was accused of involvement in the hostage-taking at a Moscow theatre in Oct 2002 that ended in the death of more than one hundred hostages and more than 40 Chechens.

Mr Yanderbiyev was born in 1952 and was acting present from Dzhokhar Dudayev's death in April 1996 through to Jan 1997 when rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov was elected.

After the news of the bombing, the current Moscow-loyal Chechen president, Akhmad Kadyrov, said Mr Yandarbiyev was one of the main guilty parties "in the tragedy of the Chechen people".

"Yandarbiyev was the chief ideologist of the separatists and then of terrorist organizations that brought such dire consequences upon Chechnya. He was guilty of everything that happened," the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying. "You will not find people in Chechnya who are sorry for what happened to him." -DPA