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TERROR-BEREAVED AVENGERS BEHIND ZAKAYEV ARSON? "MAYBE," SAY INTELLIGENCE BOSSES

MOSCOW, October 16 (RIA Novosti) - Relations of Russian terror victims may be behind yesterday's outrage in Ahmad Zakayev's apartment. Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service does not rule out the conjecture. Nikolai Labusov, its chief of PR, said so to RIA Novosti today.

Zakayev's and Alexander Litvinenko's apartments in London were Molotov-cocktailed in the small hours, Friday, with bottles hurled in their windows. A fire in Zakayev's apartment was quickly put down, with no one injured, says Litvinenko. The news promptly appeared in many Russian-based media outlets.

Ahmad Zakayev is Chechen separatist emissary, and Alexander Litvinenko a defector officer of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB). Both have been granted asylum in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Labusov emphatically denies Intelligence Service involvement in the arsons. "It never stoops to that kind of things. Russia has long been demanding Zakayev extradited. It wants him alive and kicking to land in the dock. Besides, recent years have seen many instances of people like him trying to get into the limelight with similar tricks," he reasons.

A Trafalgar Square anti-terror public rally, October 3, gathered people from many countries in London's heart, all petitioning for Zakayev extradition to Russia.

"A month has passed since the heinous school hostage-taking in Beslan, and we cannot see just how Ahmad Zakayev and his like can still stay in London," said the petition, signed by many rallies.

"We have come together to show how we abominate terrorists, and call British authorities to revise their decision to grant asylum to terror spokesmen," stressed a lady prominent among rally organizers.