13 Facts About Gulmurod Khalimov

Gulmurod Salimovich Khalimov was a Tajik and Islamist military commander.

Gulmurod Khalimov 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.

On 8 September 2017, Khalimov was allegedly killed during a Russian airstrike near Deir ez-Zor, Syria.

Gulmurod Khalimov was born on 14 May 1975 in Varzob, Tajikistan, then part of the Soviet Union.

Gulmurod Khalimov eventually joined the Tajik security forces and was trained as sniper and rose to lead the Tajik OMON special forces; in this position, he was considered to be "one of the best-trained officers in the country".

Gulmurod Khalimov helped the government to repress Islamist extremists during the Tajikistan insurgency.

Gulmurod Khalimov disappeared in late April 2015 He was notably absent from a 6 May meeting of Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda with leading police officers at OMON's headquarters in Dushanbe.

Gulmurod Khalimov was the most prominent of the more than 2,000 Tajiks reported to have joined IS.

Tajik security authorities claimed that Gulmurod Khalimov personally led a unit of 200 militants, including 50 Europeans in Syria, and was involved in planning terrorist attacks in Central Asia as well as Europe.

Gulmurod Khalimov was made subject to sanctions by the United Nations Security Council Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee on 29 February 2016.

On 8 September 2017, Gulmurod Khalimov was allegedly killed during a Russian airstrike near Deir ez-Zor, along with Abu Muhammad al-Shimali, with unconfirmed reports of the attack using Russia's precision BETAB-500 bunker-busting bombs.

The United Nations and the Tajik government continued to believe that Gulmurod Khalimov was still alive, albeit not necessarily as a member of IS.

In 2019, Tajik authorities stated that Gulmurod Khalimov had relocated to Badakhshan Province in northern Afghanistan.