Moscow: Russia's national security service today (Sep 8, 2004) announced a reward of about 300 million roubles ($10 million) for any information leading to the "neutralisation" of renegade Chechen warlords Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev.

After an initial probe into the Beslan school carnage, Moscow has pointed at the involvement of Basayev and Maskhadov in the bloodiest terror attack in Russia, which killed more than 300, in the course of the Chechen standoff.

"In the course of a number of years the leaders of band-formations Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov have committed inhuman terrorist acts on the territory of the Russian Federation resulting in irreplenishable losses," a Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopastnosti - FSB release said offering the reward and guaranteeing anonymity and protection.

The FSB will pay the reward "for reliable information on their whereabouts leading to the neutralisation of these people."