Gulmurod Khalimov
Gulmurod Salimovich Khalimov (Tajik: Гулмурод Салимович Ҳалимов, Russian: Гулмурод Салимович Халимов) (1975–2017) was a Tajik and Islamist military commander. He was a lieutenant-colonel and commander of the police special forces of the Interior Ministry of Tajikistan until 2015, when he defected to the Islamic State.[2][3] In September 2016, he was reported to have been appointed as the minister of war of IS in place of Abu Omar al-Shishani; his appointment had not been announced by IS for fears that he might be targeted in airstrikes by the anti-IS coalition.[4] On 8 September 2017, Khalimov was allegedly killed during a Russian airstrike near Deir ez-Zor, Syria.[5] However, the Tajik government, United Nations, and the United 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.[6] Regardless, the United States had removed Khalimov from their Rewards for Justice Program by 2021.[7]
In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Salimovich and the family name is Khalimov.
Gulmurod Khalimov
Gulmurod Salimovich Khalimov (Гулмурод Салимович Халимов)
14 May 1975
Varzob, Tajik SSR, Soviet Union
8 September 2017 (aged 42)
Near Deir ez-Zor, Syria
Tajikistan (1993–2015)
Islamic State (2015–17)
Lieutenant colonel (Tajikistan)
War minister (ISIL)
OMON (Tajikistan)[1]
Military of ISIL
History[edit]
Early life[edit]
He was born on 14 May 1975 in Varzob, Tajikistan, then part of the Soviet Union.[8]
Service with the Tajik security forces[edit]
Khalimov eventually joined the Tajik security forces and was trained as sniper[9][10][11] and rose to lead the Tajik OMON special forces;[1] 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 the Tajikistan insurgency.[2][12] From 2003 to 2014, Khalimov participated in five counterterrorism training courses in the United States and in Tajikistan, through the United States Department of State's Diplomatic Security/Anti-Terrorism Assistance program.[13] There exist no sources that indicate that Khalimov ever received religious training or engaged in preaching.[9]
Disappearance[edit]
Khalimov disappeared in late April 2015[14] He was notably absent from a 6 May meeting of Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda with leading police officers at OMON's headquarters in Dushanbe.[15] According to his brother Nazir, both his phone and social media accounts had been deactivated.[16] 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 at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport, Asia-Plus news agency reported.[17]