Rappani Khalilov | |
|---|---|
 Khalilov (centre) together withSheikh Abdul-Halim andAbu Hafs al-Urduni. | |
| Nickname | Rabbani |
| Born | (1969-10-27)27 October 1969 |
| Died | 17 September 2007(2007-09-17) (aged 37) |
| Allegiance | Shariat Jamaat |
| Battles / wars | |
Rappani Khalilov (Russian:Раппани Халилов) (October 27, 1969 – September 17, 2007), also known asRabbani, was the militant leader of theShariat Jamaat of theCaucasian Front during theSecond Chechen War, in the volatile southernRussian republic ofDagestan. He was killed on September 17, 2007, in a fierce shoot-out with the Russianspecial forces.
Khalilov was an ethnicLak, the sixth largest ethnic group inDagestan. Khalilov was born and grew up in the city ofBuynaksk in Dagestan. Khalilov's first name, Rabbani, means "pertaining to God" inArabic and is rendered Rappani in local dialect.[1]
Khalilov was unknown to Dagestani security forces prior to 1998. In theSoviet times he had served as aborder guard along the border withMongolia; after that, he was a co-owner of a familybakery. Khalilov came to the attention of the authorities in 1998 when he married the sister of the foreignmujahideen commanderIbn al-Khattab's ethnicDargin wife; he moved to her home village ofKaramakhi, which acquired notoriety in the summer of the same year, when its residents introducedSharia law and declared anIslamic state. Khalilov grew close to local Islamist ideologists and is thought to have met Khattab andShamil Basayev at a militant training camp inSerzhen-Yurt, south-easternChechnya. In 1999 he was involved in theDagestan War in which Khattab and Basayev sought to create anIslamic superstate out of Chechnya and Dagestan. After that raid was suppressed, he created his own unit of mostly Dagestani rebels.[2]
Khalilov first became well known after the January 18, 2002, bombing of a Russian military truck, which killed seven Interior Ministry soldiers in the capital of Dagestan,Makhachkala. He was soon blamed by theFSB to have ordered thebombing of a parade near the military barracks in the city ofKaspiysk during aRussian Victory Day celebrations on May 9, 2002,[3][4] but Khalilov and Shariat Jamaat always denied responsibility for this attack saying they don't target civilians (the blast killed at least 19 soldiers and 15 civilians, including 12 children).
Khalilov was thought to operate in south-eastern Chechnya and the mountainous regions of western Dagestan. According to one expert cited byRadio Free Europe, "Khalilov's name and reputation was indeed comparable to that of Basayev."[5] According to the Russian newspaperKommersant, Khalilov was "highly popular with the local youth, whom he is actively drawing into his ranks."[6] It has been claimed that he refrained from attacking civilians and instead targeted strictly police and military targets, as well as government officials and politicians across the poverty-stricken republic of Dagestan.[citation needed]
After formerChechen PresidentSheikh Abdul-Halim opened up theCaucasian Front to spread theinsurgency across the entireNorth Caucasus region of Russia, it is thought that Khalilov came under the authority of the Chechen rebels. This was confirmed when in a September 2006 decree,Doku Umarov, the successor to Abdul-Halim Sadulayev named Khalilov as abrigadier general and made him as the commander of the Dagestan front.
On September 17, 2007,Russian special forces launched an operation in the Dagestani settlement ofNovy Sulak.[citation needed] Two gunmen were blocked in a private residence by several hundred heavily armed republican and federalMVD troops;[7] after the fighters refused to surrender, a 12-hour gun battle ensued during which the MVD troops were reinforced by the FSBVympel special forces unit. According to the official information, only two troops were wounded in the firefight, but according toIWPR one was killed and ten were wounded.[8]RPO-A flamethrowers were used by the commandos to destroy the house, but the shooting only ceased at dawn of the next day, when the residence was crushed to the ground by an armytank and sevenarmoured personnel carriers.[9]
After examining the rubble, two bodies were recovered, identified as belonging to Rappani Khalilov and his deputy and right-hand man Nabi Nabiyev (also known as Abdurakhman);[5] Khalilov's death was later confirmed by the rebel sources. Russian authorities announced they would not release the corpses for burial;Doku Umarov honored his fallen subordinate by granting Khalilov the posthumous rank of general and the "Honor of the Nation" award, the highest decoration bestowed within the separatist movement. Khalilov's deputyAbdul Madzhid became his official successor.[10]
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