Ahmed Bragimov

 VICTIMS: 34

Well, I have to admit that this will be a very brief page, but since the number of victims is so high I just had to add him, even though there was little information given about the case.

I should begin by pointing out that this was not a planned guerilla attack. This was the action of a single gunman, acting out his own hatred, not the orders of another, so don't go ruling it out as a legitimate mass murder. This is very legitimate, and in my opinion must rate as a very good one. So, that said, let's get to what we know.

On Oct. 8, 1999, on what was described as a sunny and clear day by Larisa Chikova, she witnessed, and then hid from, Ahmed Bragimov as he moved through the Chechen town of Mekenskaya, killing people. He left bodies laying in gardens and doorways and the muddy streets. During his afternoon stroll he apparently yelled out racist comments, vowing to kill as many Russians as he could. And he only killed Russians.

The shooting came to an end when he was caught by townspeople and beaten to death. "He wasn't a wahhabist," One survivor said of Bragimov, using a term that in the Caucasus means any kind of Islamic fundamentalist. "He just hated Russians. They all feel that way about Russians."

By the end of his massacre he claimed at least 34 lives. Unfortunately neither news articles I have read on Ahmed give an exact figure, so 34 will have to do. Conceivable it may be more.

But don't go hating Ahmed purely because he was racist. From what I have read on Chechnya the Russians are much worse when it comes to hatred of the other race. And if you doubt that then this quote, "He was a killer and a thief, just as they all are," said by an elderly man in Mekenskaya. "The Chechens are all bandits. They would all kill us if they could," probably shows just why Ahmed didn’t like the Russians (well, that and the fact that they pretty much control all of Chechnya).

And that, my loyal readers, is pretty much all I know about the case. I know it isn't much, but where else would you get to hear about such a prolific mass murderer?
 

MY OPINION

34 victims pretty much makes the guy an instant success in my eyes. It wasn’t really political, just a crazy guy out there ‘sticking it the man’ and that something we have to admire. It’s just a shame that the racist western press don’t bother to report on cases like this because it sounds as if it would be pretty interesting. Oh well, not enough information to class him as a great, but he has got to be close.