Russians Fail to Identify Chechen Warlord's Body From Fingerprints

Russian investigators have failed to identify the alleged body of Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, because they do not have his fingerprints on file.

Basayev - Russia's public enemy number one - died in an explosion on July 10 which was claimed by the Kremlin as a special operation.

Experts have managed to take five fingerprints from his mangled corpse at a morgue in Vladikavkaz. However, it turned out that police had nothing on record to compare them with, sources close to the investigation told the Kommersant newspaper.

A DNA match with a family member cannot be organised because all of Basayev's close relatives are dead or in hiding.

It is thought that a brother-in-law of Basayev, who was captured by pro-Moscow Chechen security forces on Monday, is being held as a bargaining chip to put pressure on blood relatives of the fighter to come forward and donate DNA for comparison.

The lack of files on Basayev - who was accused of criminal acts causing the deaths of hundreds of innocent people, including the 331 hostages who died in the Beslan school siege in 2004 - is an embarrassment for the law-enforcement agencies.

Basayev's rebel allies have confirmed his death via their main website and his prosthetic leg was found at the scene of the explosion. Three other alleged militants were killed in the blast.

The defence minister, Sergei Ivanov, has already questioned the need to identify the charred and headless corpse thought to belong to the militants' leader. "There is not even a slightest doubt that Basayev was killed," he said.

However, failure to identify Basayev's body is likely to fuel continued speculation over his death. His supporters have ridiculed suggestions that he was killed by Russian security forces, claiming he died in an accident while handling explosives. That version adds credence to critics of the Kremlin who claim Basayev regularly paid off corrupt security forces, allowing him to travel across the North Caucasus region without being captured.

Security service veterans claim Basayev was probably killed by an agent who set off a satellite-controlled detonator planted by a traitor among the rebels' explosives.