MOSCOW, Sept 8 (AFP) - Shamil Basayev, on whose head Moscow has placed a 10-million-dollar price tag over his alleged involvement in the Beslan school hostage crisis, is one of Chechnya's most notorious military commanders.
He has so far stayed silent on the siege that left at least 336 dead, plus the hostage-takers, but Russian authorities claim he organised it and that he and Aslan Maskhadov, another rebel leader, are responsible for "inhuman" acts of terrorism.
The FSB security service said it would pay 300 million rubles (10 million dollars) "for reliable information on their whereabouts leading to the neutralization" of Maskhadov and Basayev.
All shaggy beard and military fatigue, Basayev shot to world prominence in 1995 when he led a band of heavily armed men into Russia and seized a hospital, demanding the end of the war in his Chechen republic.
More than 160 people died in that operation, most patients slain by Russian bullets.
His tactics were not necessarily appreciated by the West, but he came to symbolize the Chechen fight for independence in the face of overwhelming and heavy-handed Russian forces in the first Chechen war.
His tactics and clear lack of fear on the battlefield made him one of the most feared men in Russia. He has been reported killed several times, only to pop up alive and well later as a mythical figure haunting the Kremlin.
Born in January 1965 in Vedeno, a mountain-top town in southeast Chechnya, Basayev displayed few early signs of military prowess.
Little is known of his army record, except he served as a fireman.
However he gained considerable combat experience in the years after Chechen president Dzhokar Dudayev's unilateral declaration of independence in November 1991, appearing wherever conflict broke out in the Caucasus.
His reputation was sealed by a daring operation enabling Chechen forces to recapture the capital Grozny from Russian soldiers in August 1996, paving the way for a peace deal.
Basayev dabbled briefly in politics, running for the Chechen presidency in January 1997 before resuming arms again in 1999.
Russia blames him for a wave of deadly bomb attacks on apartment blocks in Moscow and elsewhere between August and September 1999 that killed 293 people. He denies involvement and no Chechen rebels have taken responsibility for the strikes.
It prompted Moscow to pour soldiers and weaponry into Chechnya in what was described as an "anti-terrorist operation" but has degenerated into a bloody guerrilla conflict.
In October 2002, Chechen fighters took over 800 people hostage at a Moscow theatre. Their leader said they were acting under the orders of Basayev, "our supreme military emir."
The standoff ended when Russian special forces pumped a poisonous gas into the theatre, and 129 hostages lost their lives.
In May 2003, Basayev claimed his guerrillas were behind suicide attacks in Chechnya that killed 78 people, in December that year another two which killed 52, and earlier this year coordinated attacks in neighboring Ingushetia that left 88 dead.
Via a website, he also claimed responsibility for a May 9, 2004 bombing in Grozny that killed the republic's pro-Kremlin president, Akhmad Kadyrov.
Last year the United States labeled Basayev a threat to national security and imposed financial sanctions including a freeze on his assets. US officials say he has received support from Osama bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda network.
Basayev, who lost a leg in February 2000 after stepping on a landmine, has sought to restore a 19th-century Islamic state in the North Caucasus.