Canadian killed in Chechnya

[Bruce Monkhouse]

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1097878212648&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467



Friends of man killed in Chechnya missing


MARY GORDON
OTTAWA BUREAU

OTTAWAâ ”Two friends of a Canadian reported killed in Chechnya last week have gone missing.

Kamal Elbahja of Maple Ridge, B.C., and Azar Tagiev, who was working in Vancouver, knew Rudwan Khalil, 26, from Vancouver's soccer scene. Russian officials reported last week that Khalil was killed by their special forces village of Niki-Khita in the mountainous Kurchaloi region of Chechnya.

Elbahja is Canadian. Tagiev's citizenship is unknown but his employer, Percy von Lipinski, said Tagiev is from Azerbaijan.

Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew said the department is studying the case.

"Unfortunately, the information about the other two Canadians has just been brought to our attention and we don't have any more information at this time. Our Canadian embassy is in contact with the relevant Russian authorities," he said.

Foreign Affairs learned the two men were missing on Thursday.

Khalil's lawyer, Phil Rankin, said Elbahja and Khalil flew to Saudi Arabia in June to visit Khalil's cousins and his father, an accountant. The two friends were then going to Tagiev's wedding in Azerbaijan, Rankin said.

Elbahja and Khalil were supposed to return in August. Khalil, who had a retail job, was due to start at a course at the British Columbia Institute of Technology on Sept. 5., Rankin said.

But Khalil's family heard from him less and less. A cousin in Saudi Arabia told the family Khalil had gone to Russia.

The family presumed he went there on the way to Tagiev's wedding.

Tagiev managed the Vancouver office of Visa Connection, an 18-year-old company with offices in several North American cities.

The company arranges visas for travellers to foreign companies.

"If you need to get out of the country we're your company," said von Lipinski, the company's founder.

Von Lipinski said Tagiev left in May to visit his dying brother who was hurt in a car accident and didn't mention getting married.

Von Lipinski, who has been interviewed by CSIS about the case, said his former employee was about 31 and didn't seem the fighting type.

"This is a very peaceful quiet guy as I know him," von Lipinsky said.

 

[Matt_Fisher]

This story is starting to really even more fishy than it initially did. What would have happened had these guys fought in Chechnya for a while and became even more entrenched in Al Qaeda/Islamic fundamentalist terrorism and returned to Canada?   Can you say sleeper cell?   Now just think about how many other Canadians may have gone on similar "trips" and things start to get scary pretty fast.

I don't mean to sound like some xenophobic conspiracy theory nut, and that just because somebody's a Muslim doesn't mean they're a terrorist.   I just think that Customs, Immigration, the RCMP and CSIS need to get their sh*t wired alot more tight than it is now.

Canada already has a pretty glaring track record with the millenium bomber, Ahmed Ressam and the Khatr family.   Now this?

I think that it's just a matter of time before an Al Qaeda cell network in Canada is either uncovered or that it exposes itself by launching an attack on the US or within Canada.

 

[devil39]

This story is starting to really even more fishy than it initially did. What would have happened had these guys fought in Chechnya for a while and became even more entrenched in Al Qaeda/Islamic fundamentalist terrorism and returned to Canada?   Can you say sleeper cell?   Now just think about how many other Canadians may have gone on similar "trips" and things start to get scary pretty fast.

I don't mean to sound like some xenophobic conspiracy theory nut, and that just because somebody's a Muslim doesn't mean they're a terrorist.   I just think that Customs, Immigration, the RCMP and CSIS need to get their sh*t wired alot more tight than it is now.

Canada already has a pretty glaring track record with the millenium bomber, Ahmed Ressam and the Khatr family.   Now this?

I think that it's just a matter of time before an Al Qaeda cell network in Canada is either uncovered or that it exposes itself by launching an attack on the US or within Canada.

Matt,

I don't think any nation's record is very good.   No point chucking sh*t around on this issue.   9/11 types didn't take their flying training in Canada.   McVeigh was not a Canadian.

Most of us, myself included, probably have no idea as to the true extent of various nations real capabilities and culpability.

 

[Matt_Fisher]

Devil39, I didn't intend my post to as a crap flinging session, it was more meant as a candid self-reflection of what needs to be done to reduce the threat and existence of terrorism within Canada and the US.

You're absolutely right though, the problems expressed are not isolated to Canada.  They exist in every nation that terrorists wish to strike at including the US.

 

[1feral1]

One less terrorist! I am sure CSIS will endeavour to investigate him and his family further.

Regards,

Wes