Grozny, Russia ? The death of Russia’s most-wanted man, Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, ends a long hunt for the fugitive, but questions were raised Tuesday over what caused the dynamite-filled truck next to his car to explode.

Rebels close to Basayev said the explosion that caused his death Monday was an accident, but reports also circulated of a targeted missile strike and of a secret services operation that had an agent detonating the truck’s explosives.

Russia’s defense minister hailed the death of “our bin Laden” as a “landmark event.” Still, Sergei Ivanov warned that the 12-year struggle with Chechen separatist rebels – which has spread across the impoverished and mainly Muslim North Caucasus in Russia’s south – was not over.

Russian newspapers reported Tuesday that Basayev’s death resulted from a carefully planned secret services operation that used a shipment of weapons and explosives to ensnare the warlord just outside the main Ingush city of Nazran.