Gulmurod Khalimov

Gulmurod Salimovich Khalimov (Tajik: Гулмурод Салимович Ҳалимов) was a Tajik and Islamist military commander. A lieutenant-colonel when commander of the police special forces of the Interior Ministry of Tajikistan until 2015, he has since defected to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

In September 2016, he was reported to have been appointed as the minister of war of ISIL in place of Abu Omar al-Shishani; his appointment had not been announced by ISIL for fears that he might be targeted in airstrikes by the anti-ISIL coalition.

History

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

US training

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.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

He disappeared in late April 2015, and surfaced May 28, 2015 in an ISIL video.

Tajik reaction

Tajik Prosecutor-General Manuchehr Makhmudzod announced on May 29, 2015 that a probe had been opened into Khalimov's activities. The Prosecutor-General's Office said on June 3 that Colonel Gulmurod Khalimov is wanted for crimes including high treason and illegal participation in military actions abroad. "Acting for mercenary means, he joined the international terrorist organization calling itself Islamic State," the statement said.

US and UN sanctions

On September 29, 2015 he was made subject to sanctions by the United States Department of State. He was also made subject to sanctions by the United Nations Security Council Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee on 29 February 2016.

In August 2016, the United States Department of State issued a $3 million USD bounty on Khalimov under its Rewards for Justice program.

Iraqi military source claimed that he was killed in an airstrike in western Mosul on April 14, 2017.