DUSHANBE, March 31, 2015, Asia-Plus – According to information posted on one of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) Twitter accounts on March 30, one Tajik national, nicknamed Abu Ayub, has been killed in the south of Baghdad.
Two other Tajik ISIL militants, Sultan and Imran, were reportedly killed in Iraq on the same day.
We will recall that according to Tajik Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda, 50 Tajik ISIL militants were killed in Syria. According to him, there are 200 Tajiks fighting alongside ISIL militants in Syria and Iraq.
Meanwhile Edward Lemon, a doctoral candidate at the University of Exeter who tracks Tajik militants in Syria and Iraq told Radio Liberty on March 27 that he has found online evidence for 70 fighters. “But there are likely to be more who have traveled and whose existence has not been reported in the media. I think a figure of between 100 and 200 would be fairly accurate,” Mr. Lemon said.
Mr. Lemon, whose research examines the links between migration, religion, and security within Central Asian communities in Russia, noted that “it seems like many are being recruited in Russia.”
Mr. Lemon noted that most Tajik militants seem to be experiencing their first combat in Syria and Iraq.
