- Special Purpose Islamic Regiment
The Special Purpose Islamic Regiment (SPIR) ( _ru. Исламский полк особого назначения) was a Chechen
militant organization formed in 1996, most notorious for its role in the 2002Moscow theater hostage crisis .The SPIR was founded by
Arbi Barayev , later headed byMovsar Barayev , and probably never had more than 100 fighters at any given time. According to the Chechen websiteKavkaz 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 inChechnya under the leadership of the man known only asAmir Aslan , followed by AmirsRashid andAbdul -Malik . OnJune 4 2008 , Alkavkaz website reported that Abdul-Malik had been killed inGrozny . There are conflicting reports about the SPIR's remaining leadership.External links
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1003603,00.html?iid=chix-sphere The Chechen Suicide Squad] , "
TIME ", Nov. 04, 2002
* [http://www.investigativeproject.org/profile/161 Special Purpose Islamic Regiment (SPIR)] ( [http://www.osac.gov/Groups/group.cfm?contentID=1334 mirror)] from the 2005 Country Reports on Terrorism 2005 by theUnited States Department of State
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/special_purpose_islamic_regiment.htm Special Purpose Islamic Regiment]GlobalSecurity.org
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