The al Qaeda linked Islamic Caucasus Emirate, a terror group operating in southern Russia, acknowledged the death of a senior terrorist who was first reported to have been killed during a raid in Chechnya earlier this month. Also, the leader of the Islamic Caucasus Emirate said he considers “the Caucasus Emirate and Russia as a single theater of war.”
In an interview with the Doku Umarov, the emir or leader of the Islamic Caucasus Emirate, Kavkaz center, the terror group’s propaganda arm, said that “Emir Abdullah” was one of several senior leaders killed by Russian forces.
Emir Abdullah is Abdullah Kurd, a Turkish citizen whose real name is Doger Sevdet. He was first reported killed during a May 4 raid by Russian special operation forces in the Republic of Chechnya. But Kavkaz Center did not confirm his death at the time, stating that “no official information has been received yet from the command of the Mujahideen on the Martyrdom of Mujahid Abdullah.”
Russia National Anti-Terrorism Committee described Abdullah as the “bin Laden of the North Caucasus” who “coordinated foreign rebels” and managed “foreign financial inflows.” Abdullah, along with Umarov, “organized most of the terrorist attacks involving suicide bombers in Russia,” according to RIA Novosti.
Abdullah was a top leader in the International Islamic Battalion, the unit comprised of Arab and other foreign fighters. The senior leaders of the Islamic Battalion include al Qaeda commander Ibn al Khattab (killed in 2002); Abu al Walid (killed in 2004); and Abu Hafs al Urduni (killed in 2006), and Muhannad (killed in April 2011).
Russian officials said that Abdullah entered the Caucasus through the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia in 1991. Abdullah’s passport included visas from Pakistan, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, according to Channel 4 News. Abdullah was in Pakistan within the last several months, according to Russian officials.
Abdullah is the fourth senior Islamic Caucasus Emiriate leader killed in the past month. In addition to Muhannad, who was killed on April 21, 2011, Russian forces killed Emir Supyan, Umarov’s deputy, on March 28, 2011, and
Umarov says Russia is part of the wider battlefield
In Kavkaz’s interview with Umarov, the terror chief said that the group’s jihad is not simply limited to the Caucasus, but to all of Russia.
“We consider the Caucasus Emirate and Russia as a single theater of war,” Umarov said.
“Today, the battlefield is not just Chechnya and the Caucasus Emirate, but also the whole Russia,” he continued. “The situation is visible to everybody who has eyes. The Jihad is spreading, steadily and inevitably, everywhere. I’ve already mentioned that all those artificial borders, administrative divisions, which the Taghut [false leader or liar] drew, mean nothing to us. The days when we wanted to secede and dreamed of building a small Chechen Kuwait in the Caucasus are over.”
Umarov has made good on previous threats to expand the war into Russia.
Umarov claimed credit for the deadly Jan. 24, 2011 suicide attack at Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow that killed 35 people and wounded scores more. Umarov also claimed responsibility for the March 29, 2010 suicide attack by two female bombers that killed 39 people in the Moscow metro.
For more information on the Islamic Caucasus Emirate and its war with Russia, see LWJ report, 35 killed in suicide attack at Moscow airport.
