Death of a Defector

Several weeks ago we reported on Col. Gulmurod Khalimov, a former commander of OMON special forces in Tajikistan. Last spring Col. Khalimov disappeared from Tajikistan and then turned up a few weeks later in Syria, having defected to the Islamic State. ISIS eventually released a propaganda video featuring the colonel.

Now comes word that Col. Khalimov was killed on June 19 during a firefight with the Syrian army. DarLink (who translated Col. Khalimov’s video for subtitles) found the following news report in Russian-language media. The text is an adjusted machine translation; the credibility of this report is unknown:

Lebanese media: Gulmurod Khalimov killed in Syria

Published June 23, 2015 — 11:13

21Livanskie [Lebanese] media reported that the former head of the Tajik Interior Ministry riot police — Gulmurod Khalimov, who joined the terrorist group LIH [presumably ISIS], has been killed in air strikes.

So, “Arabi-Press” referring to a competent source reports that Gulmurod Khalimov died Friday June 19, at about 23 hours, in Syria.

This is the source of the Agency “Arabi-Press” reports that Khalimov together with Abu Umar al-Checheni came under fire of the Syrian army.

On Saturday, the body G. Khalimov under heavy guard was evacuated from Syria.

With regards to Abu Umar al-Checheni — one of the leaders of the Caucasian LIH, the source reports that he suffered multiple severe injuries.

One thought on “Death of a Defector

  1. Highly unlikely. Consider the Russian reports and their “Lebanese” sources for what they are: Propaganda. Omar Al-Shishani is still planning and conducting multi-pronged bi-frontal terror offensives against both the Kurds and the Syrian army in Central Syria. Strategicintelligencefiles.blogspot.com

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