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The most wanted Chechen rebel warlord, Shamil Basayev, has been killed, Russian media report.
Basayev was killed in a special operation overnight in Ingushetia, near Chechnya, Russia's FSB security service chief Nikolai Patrushev said.
President Vladimir Putin said Basayev's killing was "deserved retribution" for terror attacks, including the 2004 mass hostage-taking at a school in Beslan.
Basayev, a key Chechen rebel commander, led many major attacks against Russia.
The September 2004 attack on a school in Beslan, in the North Caucasus, led to at least 331 deaths. It triggered outrage in Russia and other countries, as many women and children were among the victims.
The reported death of Basayev has not yet been confirmed by Chechen rebel sources.
The BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Moscow says Basayev has been top of Russia's most wanted list for a long time.
Mr Patrushev was quoted as saying Basayev was among a group of militants killed as they prepared to carry out a "terrorist act" in Ingushetia, which borders on Chechnya.
Resistance role
Russia had previously offered a reward of $10m (£6m) for the capture of Basayev.
He claimed responsibility for masterminding the Beslan raid, but blamed the children's deaths on Russian forces, who stormed the school to end the siege.
Basayev led the first mass hostage-taking by Chechen rebels - in the southern Russian town of Budyonnovsk in 1995. He also claimed to have organised the assault on a Moscow theatre in 2002, during which 129 people died.
He was a key commander of the resistance after Russian forces invaded Chechnya at the end of 1994.
When Russia was forced to withdraw its forces after the first Chechen war ended in 1996, Basayev stood for president, but came second to Aslan Maskhadov - the more moderate separatist leader killed by Russian troops in March 2005.
Basayev also served briefly as prime minister in the self-proclaimed independent Chechen republic of Ichkeria in 1997.
Basayev was killed in a special operation overnight in Ingushetia, near Chechnya, Russia's FSB security service chief Nikolai Patrushev said.
President Vladimir Putin said Basayev's killing was "deserved retribution" for terror attacks, including the 2004 mass hostage-taking at a school in Beslan.
Basayev, a key Chechen rebel commander, led many major attacks against Russia.
The September 2004 attack on a school in Beslan, in the North Caucasus, led to at least 331 deaths. It triggered outrage in Russia and other countries, as many women and children were among the victims.
The reported death of Basayev has not yet been confirmed by Chechen rebel sources.
The BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Moscow says Basayev has been top of Russia's most wanted list for a long time.
Mr Patrushev was quoted as saying Basayev was among a group of militants killed as they prepared to carry out a "terrorist act" in Ingushetia, which borders on Chechnya.
Resistance role
Russia had previously offered a reward of $10m (£6m) for the capture of Basayev.
He claimed responsibility for masterminding the Beslan raid, but blamed the children's deaths on Russian forces, who stormed the school to end the siege.
Basayev led the first mass hostage-taking by Chechen rebels - in the southern Russian town of Budyonnovsk in 1995. He also claimed to have organised the assault on a Moscow theatre in 2002, during which 129 people died.
He was a key commander of the resistance after Russian forces invaded Chechnya at the end of 1994.
When Russia was forced to withdraw its forces after the first Chechen war ended in 1996, Basayev stood for president, but came second to Aslan Maskhadov - the more moderate separatist leader killed by Russian troops in March 2005.
Basayev also served briefly as prime minister in the self-proclaimed independent Chechen republic of Ichkeria in 1997.
Child killers
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