There have been so many attempts on my life that I lost count long ago

Ahmad Kadyrov

Six bodyguards have been killed in attacks on his life in the last two years, but he has always survived.

But the most recent attack came from an unexpected quarter, when he was fired on by Russian troops who are supposed to be on the same side as him.

Ahmad Kadyrov says he has 'completely forgotten what fear is'

Mr Kadyrov was travelling in convoy to his home village along a route he uses every day when Russian troops opened fire.

Mr Kadyrov laughed the incident off, saying it was a simple mistake because his vehicles were out after curfew.

And the Russian military said its soldiers only fired warning shots into the air.

But these "warning shots" from automatic rifles and grenade launchers destroyed three escort vehicles, and Mr Kadyrov himself only escaped by pushing his driver out of the jeep and taking to the wheel himself.

A Moscow newspaper commented that Mr Kadyrov should be used to being shot at by federal troops.

Before he changed sides to join the Russians he was a guerrilla commander who "often found himself in similar tricky situations, " it said.

Ahmad-Haji Kadyrov

Graduated from an Islamic seminary in Central Asia 1989-94: head of the first Islamic institute in the North Caucasus Mufti of the Chechen Republic since 1995 1994-96: Commanded guerrilla units fighting Russian troops Later changes sides to head Russian-backed administration

Hated enemy

Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov named Ahmad Kadyrov "enemy number one" for siding with the Russians after the failed Chechen invasion of Dagestan which sparked the latest round of fighting.

And representing the Russian occupation forces means Mr Kadyrov has had to play on Chechnya's intricate clan rivalries, making him even more unpopular.

Now Mr Maskhadov's forces say they are not even bothering to try to kill him any more, because he has so many other mortal enemies to do the job for them.

Some Chechen rebels have gone over to the Russians

Failed attempts

Some of the most recent attempts to kill Ahmad Kadyrov:

• 13 May 2000: a command mine explodes on the outskirts of Gudermes, and Kadyrov's son Ramzan receives shrapnel wounds.
• 3 May 2000: Kadyrov's security service intercepts two guerrillas infiltrating his home village of Tsentoroy with a bomb. They had been promised a $250,000 reward.
• 10 August 2000: A command mine is found hidden in an old car on the route Kadyrov is to follow.
• 31 October 2000: A suicide bomber carrying a kilo of TNT heads for Kadyrov's headquarters, but blows himself up when detected by police still 300 metres away.

We have a certain anxiety about issues related to his personal safety

Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo

In late October the Russians ruled out moving the Chechen administration back to the nominal capital, Grozny, as it was too dangerous for Mr Kadyrov to be there.

But it seems nowhere in Chechnya is safe for the man the Russians say is the leader of the country.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.