Following the death of Aslan Maskhadov, former head of the Chechen separatist fighters, Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev was declared leader of the separtist forces. His leadership lasted barely more than one year. He was killed in a gun battle with Russian and pro-Russian Chechen forces on June 17, 2006. Shortly thereafter, on July 9, 2006, Shamil Basayev, considered the master mind behind Chechen-led terrorist attacks on Russian civilian sites, was also killed in Ingushetia by a bomb, although who triggered the explosion remains a disputed question. The new head of the Chechen separatist armed movement is Doku Umarov.
For Chechen civilians, conditions have not fundamentally changed since the process of Chechenization began. There has been limited reconstruction, largely focused in the center of Grozny. Many civilians still suffer from lack of electricity and running water. Those who returned after internally displaced persons (IDP) camps closed in neighboring Ingushetia (2004) struggle with inadequate housing. Human rights abuses, committed in large degree by armed forces associated with the pro-Moscow leadership, including the Kadyrovtsy, are committed with impunity and arbitrariness. Disappearances, in particular, are so widespread and systematic as to constitute, according the Human Rights Watch, a crime against humanity. In May 2006, the International Helsinki Federation issued a report documenting unofficial places of detention in Chechnya, where it is believed that many of the disappeared are taken and tortured.
