Ex-Alpha Leader:

New ISIL Military Commander to Bring Unpleasant Consequences for Central Asia

Rasa - Former Head of the Russian Veterans’ Association of Antiterrorism Division "Alpha" Sergei Goncharov warned that appointment of fugitive Tajik Colonel Gulmurod Halimov as the new ISIL war minister will have dire consequences for the Central Asia.

News ID: 423272

Date: 06 September 2016 - 19:45

RNA - "Appointment of Halimov will lead to the recruitment of more Central Asian nationals by the ISIL," Goncharov said on Tuesday.

He said that the new ISIL war minister was trained in the USSR, studying the tactics of the Soviet Special Forces, and then passed a much training in the USA, adding that this means that he has the ability to use any of these tactics against his opponents.

Halimov was a commander of the Tajik Riot, and then was accused of treason. He became the war minister after the death of Tarkhan Batirashvili, nom de duerre Abu Umar al-Shishani, who previously held this position.

Shishani, known as "the Chechen" was killed in July during the fight in the Iraqi city of Shirqat although Washington initially boasted that they killed the former ISIL commander in Iraq with a targeted drone strike, a claim that turned out to be incorrect.

The placement of Halimov to lead the terror organization’s Iraqi forces is a bit unusual for ISIL who normally maintain only "second and third ranking commanders who lead militants in Nineveh province," according to a source.

These ISIL militants tend to keep a low-profile to prevent being "detected and destroyed" by US forces who remain in a support function in Iraq, explained the source.

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