Gulmurod Khalimov | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Gulmurod Salimovich Khalimov (Гулмурод Салимович Халимов) |
| Born | (1975-05-14)14 May 1975 |
| Died | 8 September 2017(2017-09-08) (aged 42)(alleged)[1] NearDeir ez-Zor,Syria |
| Allegiance |  Tajikistan (1993–2015) Islamic State (2015–2017) |
| Branch | Ministry of Internal Affairs (Tajikistan) |
| Rank | Lieutenant colonel (Tajikistan) War minister (ISIL) |
| Commands | OMON (Tajikistan)[2] Military of the Islamic State |
| Battles / wars | Tajikistan insurgency Syrian civil war |
Gulmurod Salimovich Khalimov (Tajik:Гулмурод Салимович Ҳалимов,Russian:Гулмурод Салимович Халимов) (14 May 1975 – 8 September 2017) was aTajik andIslamist military commander. He was alieutenant-colonel and commander of the police special forces of theInterior Ministry of Tajikistan until 2015, when he defected to theIslamic State.[3][4] In September 2016, he was reported to have been appointed as the minister of war of IS in place ofAbu Omar al-Shishani; his appointment had not been announced by IS for fears that he might be targeted in airstrikes by theanti-IS coalition.[5] On 8 September 2017, Khalimov was allegedly killed during a Russian airstrike nearDeir ez-Zor,Syria.[6] However, the Tajik government,United Nations, and theUnited States believed that he was still alive by 2019, though his exact fate remained disputed. By 2020, Islamist militants claimed he had died at some point; this source was considered unreliable by the Tajik government.[1] Regardless, the United States had removed Khalimov from theirRewards for Justice Program by 2021.[7]
He was born on 14 May 1975 inVarzob,Tajikistan, then part of theSoviet Union.[8]
Khalimov eventually joined the Tajik security forces and was trained assniper[9][10][11] and rose to lead the TajikOMON special forces;[2] in this position, he was considered to be "one of the best-trained officers in the country". He helped the government to repress Islamist extremists during theTajikistan insurgency.[3][12] From 2003 to 2014, Khalimov participated in five counterterrorism training courses in theUnited States and inTajikistan, training withBlackwater and theUS Army.[13][14] There exist no sources that indicate that Khalimov ever received religious training or engaged in preaching.[9]
Khalimov disappeared in late April 2015[15] He was notably absent from a 6 May meeting of Interior MinisterRamazon Rahimzoda with leading police officers at OMON's headquarters inDushanbe.[16] According to his brother Nazir, both his phone and social media accounts had been deactivated.[17] According to family members, Khalimov left home on 13 April after giving his wife around $200 in spending money, less than the amount he frequently gave her before departing on business trips. Meanwhile, Tajik media quoted unnamed sources in law enforcement as saying Khalimov left Dushanbe on May 1 along with 10 other men, later being seen atMoscow'sSheremetyevo International Airport, Asia-Plus news agency reported.[18]
Khalimov resurfaced on 28 May 2015 in a 10-minute IS propaganda video clip posted in social networks and released byAl-Furat Media Center,[19][20] in which he vowed to "bring jihad to Russia", while also lambasting Tajik guest workers in Russia, referring to them as "slaves of infidels".[21]
Although hundreds of Tajiks had already joined IS by this point, Khalimov's defection was an "unprecedented case" due to his being a successful, high profile officer and part of the establishment[3] rather than the poor, from whom Islamist groups mostly recruit. According to regional expert Deirdre Tynan, Khalimov's defection was nevertheless symptomatic, as "there is an element of doubt in people within the [Tajik] civil and security services about what is the trajectory of their countries" and increasing support for radical religious ideologies.[2] Khalimov was the most prominent of the more than 2,000 Tajiks reported to have joined IS.[22]
After joining IS, Khalimov travelled toSyria, where he was war minister and became an important recruiter for the group.[23][10] Tajik security authorities claimed that Khalimov personally led a unit of 200 militants, including 50 Europeans in Syria, and was involved in planning terrorist attacks in Central Asia as well as Europe.[23] In July 2017, four of his relatives in Tajikistan were killed and three arrested by security forces; according to the government, they were IS supporters.[10]
Tajik Prosecutor-General Manuchehr Makhmudzod announced on 29 May 2015 that a probe had been opened into Khalimov's activities. The Prosecutor-General's Office said on June 3 that Colonel Gulmurod Khalimov was wanted for crimes including high treason and illegal participation in military actions abroad. "Acting for mercenary means, he joined the international terrorist organization calling itself Islamic State," the statement said.[24][25]
On 29 September 2015, he was made subject to sanctions by theUnited States Department of State.[26] He was also made subject to sanctions by theUnited Nations Security Council Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee on 29 February 2016.[27]
In August 2016, the United States Department of State issued a $3 million USD bounty on Khalimov under itsRewards for Justice program.[28][29]
On 8 September 2017, Khalimov was allegedly killed during a Russian airstrike nearDeir ez-Zor, along withAbu Muhammad al-Shimali, with unconfirmed reports of the attack using Russia's precisionBETAB-500 bunker-busting bombs.[30] TheUnited Nations[23] and the Tajik government continued to believe that Khalimov was still alive, albeit not necessarily as a member of IS.[31] In 2019, Tajik authorities stated that Khalimov had relocated toBadakhshan Province in northern Afghanistan.[23] In contrast, the United Nations claimed that he was still in Syria, leading a unit of 600 Tajik militants inIdlib Governorate after losing his position as IS war minister.[23][32][30]
On 3 August 2020, Tajikistan's Minister of Internal AffairsRamazon Rahimov declared that Tajik IS fighters had revealed that Khalimov as well as his family had been killed in an airstrike in Syria, although he later qualified his statement, arguing that these sources were not necessarily trustworthy.[31][1] Without further proof of his demise, the Tajik government continued to regard him as alive.[9]
{{cite news}}:|author= has generic name (help)