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Man Wanted in Middle East Killing Wounded in Gunplay

A man wanted by police in Dubai for the murder of Chechen commander Sulim Yamadayev has been hospitalized with a gunshot wound in Moscow, media reports said Tuesday.

Chechen native Zelimkhan Mazayev was delivered to the city's Sklifosovsky Clinic late on Monday night after he apparently shot himself accidentally in the thigh, Rosbalt.ru reported.

He is in intensive care after undergoing surgery, the report said. It quoted a police source as saying Mazayev was injured when an airgun he was carrying went off as he abruptly stood up in a cafe in the Yevropeisky shopping mall.

Another version is that he was shot during a fight with people close to Yamadayev's brother Isa, the report said, quoting sources in the city's Chechen community.

Mazayev was among five Russian citizens put on Interpol's wanted list by the United Arab Emirates after Yamadayev was gunned down in March 2009.

But he has been quietly living in Moscow for some time as Russian authorities have not put him on a national wanted list, media reports said.

He was delivered to the clinic by 10 armed men, who had decided against calling an ambulance, Lifenews.ru reported.

The Yamadayev brothers hail from a Chechen clan that has been feuding with regional strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, and Isa Yamadayev has implicated Kadyrov in the killing of two of his brothers and in a failed attempt on his own life in 2009.

After Sulim Yamadayev's murder, Dubai police issued an arrest warrant for State Duma Deputy Adam Delimkhanov, a close ally of Kadyrov.

Delimkhanov and Kadyrov both have denied the allegations. Last month, Delimkhanov was deleted from the Interpol list.

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