Zelimkhan Chatiashvili, 21, from the Pankisi Gorge, is said to have been killed in Syria while fighting for the Islamic State, and is reportedly the eighth Georgian to have been killed in this way. A member of the Pankisi elders council called the area a “slowly ticking time bomb.” An estimated 50 to 100 Georgians from Pankisi are fighting in Syria, including Omar al Shishani a.k.a. Tarkhan Batirashvili, the Islamic State’s military commander in Syria, who was added to the US’ terrorist blacklist in September.
