Special Purpose Islamic Regiment

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Special Purpose Islamic Regiment (SPIR) (Russian: Исламский полк особого назначения) was a Chechen militant organization formed in 1996, most notorious for its role in the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis.

The SPIR was founded by Arbi Barayev, later headed by Movsar Barayev, and probably never had more than 100 fighters at any given time. According to the Chechen website Kavkaz Center, the SPIR was integrated into the mainstream rebel forces after the theatre seizure.

As of 2005, it reportedly continued to conduct limited guerrilla operations in Chechnya under the leadership of the man known only as Amir Aslan, followed by Amirs Rashid and Abdul-Malik. On June 4, 2008, Alkavkaz website reported that Abdul-Malik had been killed in Grozny. There are conflicting reports about the SPIR's remaining leadership.

[edit] External links

• The Chechen Suicide Squad, TIME, Nov. 04, 2002
• Special Purpose Islamic Regiment (SPIR) (mirror) from the 2005 Country Reports on Terrorism 2005 by the United States Department of State
• Special Purpose Islamic Regiment GlobalSecurity.org