Khanpash Terkibaev, a Chechen journalist who some observers allege participated in the October 2002 seizure of a Moscow theater by Chechen fighters, was killed in a traffic accident near Grozny on 15 December. The agency quoted Grozny district administration head Shaid Dzhamaldaev as saying that four other people riding in the car with Terkibaev also died in the accident, the causes of which are under investigation. In April, \"Novaya gazeta\" correspondent Anna Politkovskaya reported that Terkibaev traveled to Moscow with the Chechen fighters who seized the theater and ensured that their journey was unimpeded, and that he left the theater before Russian commandos stormed it. Politkovskaya, who interviewed Terkibaev, claimed he had been sent on the raid by Russia\'s special services. Terkibaev, who was reportedly accredited with the government daily \"Rossiiskaya gazeta,\" denied involvement in the theater raid. On 16 December, following news of Terkibaev\'s death, Politkovskaya told Ekho Moskvy, \"It is a shame to speak ill of a dead person, but a person who betrays many different sides condemns himself.\" She said that after her interview with Terkibaev was published, \"very many people, both from the Chechen side and from Russia\'s special services, said he wouldn\'t live much longer.\" \"I was told that [radical Chechen field commander Shamil] Basaev had condemned him and that the [Russian] special services had condemned him,\" Politkovskaya said. \"He was in Baku for a while, and people who were also there said things were not so good for him. As result, he wound up in Chechnya.\" Politkovskaya called Terkibaev \"a kind of double agent.\" \"Nevertheless,\" she added. \"I deeply regret that this last witness was killed.\" (RFE/RL)