Yacine Benalia was an Algerian-born Islamist militant who allegedly participated in the Beslan

Beslan

Beslan is a town and the administrative center of Pravoberezhny District of the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, Russia. In terms of population, Beslan is the third largest town in the republic behind Vladikavkaz and Mozdok...

 school hostage crisis

Beslan school hostage crisis

The Beslan school hostage crisis of early September 2004 was a three-day hostage-taking of over 1,100 people which ended in the deaths of over 380...

 in September of 2004. Whether he truly participated is unclear, as he was also reported killed in Chechnya in March of 2004, six months before the hostage drama in North Ossetia.

Rebel Activity

Benalia allegedly fled Algeria in the 1990s for London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, where he eventually became a British citizen. According to Scotland Yard

Scotland Yard

Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...

, he was a frequent visitor of the Finsbury Park Mosque

Finsbury Park Mosque

North London Central Mosque in Finsbury Park, London was built in the 1990s to serve the large Muslim population in the area. It has a capacity of 1,800 people....

, known for the fiery jihadist preaching of Abu Hamza al-Masri

Abu Hamza al-Masri

Abu Hamza al-Masri is an Egyptian Sunni activist known for his preaching of a violent and politicised interpretation of Islam, also known as militant Islamism or jihadism...

. Benalia is said to have arrived in the North Caucasus

North Caucasus

The North Caucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Seas and within European Russia. The term is also used as a synonym for the North Caucasus economic region of Russia....

 in 2001 in order to battle Russian forces during the Second Chechen War.

Death

While some reports suggest Benalia possibly died in the siege of the school in Beslan, it has also been reported that he - along with fellow Algerian militant Osman Larussi - was killed by Russian federal forces in Chechnya on 8 March 2004.

External links

• : Beslan: The Aftermath