MOSCOW, March 30 (RIA Novosti) - Sulim Yamadayev, the former commander of the Chechen Vostok battalion, is in hospital in a serious condition after surviving an assassination attempt in Dubai, a relative told RIA Novosti.

Yamadayev was shot by unknown assailants on Saturday. Police in Dubai had earlier reported that the former commander was killed in the attack, but a relative who asked to remain anonymous said he was being treated in a military hospital.

"We learnt that an attempt was made on Sulim's life in Dubai, and that unidentified people fired several shots at him. He was wounded but is alive. Sulim managed to shoot back, and this saved his life," the source said.

Russia and the United Arab Emirates have yet to officially comment on the incident. The search for the attackers is ongoing.

Yamadayev was officially dismissed from his post as commander of the Defense Ministry's Vostok battalion last August over an alleged involvement in the 1998 abduction and murder of a Chechen businessman.

Yamadayev's brother Ruslan Yamadayev, a former member of the Russian parliament's lower house, was gunned down in central Moscow last September. He was a prominent opponent of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, who has denied any involvement in the killing.