MOSCOW, Sept 27 (AFP) - Russian special forces who killed five people during an operation in the breakaway southern republic of Chechnya found that one of them was carrying Turkish identity papers, a military spokesman said, describing the dead man as a "mercenary."
General Ilya Shabalkin, regional chief of staff of Russian "anti-terrorist operations," said the alleged Turk was one of five rebels killed during an operation on Sunday near the village of Serzhen-Yurt in the Shali region of southeastern Chechnya.
Identity papers found on the dead man early on Monday bore the name of Kassan Umach, and gave his year of birth as 1980, Shabalkin said, according to a report by the Ria Novosti news agency.
The Russian officer said it was possible that some of the other dead were also non-Russians, although he did not elaborate.
Shabalkin had earlier said that during the clashes around Serzhen-Yurt, which went on for several hours until nightfall on Sunday, the Russian forces had picked up radio communications by the rebels, and they were speaking in Turkish.