Fighters from ‘Caucasus Mujahideen in Khorasan’ issue message to ‘brothers’ in southern Russia

A group of jihadists based in the Afghan-Pakistan region who claim to be members of the “Caucasus Mujahideen in Khorasan” issued a videotape to their “brothers” in the Islamic Caucasus Emirate and their emir, Doku Umarov.

The videotape was released on the Ansar forum, and republished on several supporting jihadist blogs, including Kavkaz (Caucasus) Jihad and the Shurat al Mujahideen Fee Junubu, Afarika, which is “against the false religion of democracy and call for Allah’s Hakamiyah (sovereignty).”

The videotape identified the group of jihadis, in Russian text, as “The Caucasus Mujahideen in Khorasan,” according to a translation by the SITE Intelligence Group. The group is dressed in uniform, with masks, and is seated in a forested area with a flag of the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

The Khorasan is a region that encompasses large areas of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Iran. The Khorasan is considered by jihadis to be the place where they will inflict the first defeat against their enemies in the Muslim version of Armageddon. The final battle is to take place in the Levant – Israel, Syria, and Lebanon. Mentions of the Khorasan have begun to increase in al Qaeda’s propaganda. After al Qaeda’s defeat in Iraq, the group began shifting its rhetoric from promoting Iraq as the central front in their jihad and have placed the focus on the Khorasan.

Two jihadis, who are identified as Amir Abdullah and Abdul Rahman al Khorasani, speak on the videotape. Both speak in support of the jihad in the Russian Caucasus, implore the “brothers” there to ride out the “various troubles and misfortunes,” and call for the establishment of a global caliphate.

“Our message is to the brothers in the Caucasus and our emir [leader], Doku Abu Usman [Umarov],” Amir Abdullah said on the tape, which was created in July 2011 and released on Oct. 17. “We first greet you from Khorasan, and our Muslim brothers in the area from the Caucasus also greet you.”

“Praise be to Allah, we are thankful for our Emirate,” Abdullah continues. “We have announced the enemy of the Muslims to be our enemy, and we fight for the word of Allah. We are setting our nation not for worldly purposes, but in the name of an Islamic Caliphate and an Islamic State.”

Abdul Rahman al Khorasani said the fighters in the Khorasan are aware of Caucasus jihadis’ “hardships through our brothers with whom we communicate over the Internet,” and said they hope to stand with them in battle.

“We pray for you, and we want to unite with you side by side in the waging of jihad in the Caucasus. We ask Allah, Glorified and Exalted be He, to grant victory to all mujahideen in Khorasan and in the Caucasus,” Khorasani said.

Fighters from the Caucasus, who are often called Russians or Chechens, are known to fight in the Afghan-Pakistan region alongside al Qaeda, the Taliban, and allied groups such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and its offshoot, the Islamic Jihad Group. Last summer, two fighters, Samil Dagistanli, from Dagestan, and Ismail Azeri, from Azerbaijan, were killed during infighting among jihadists in Waziristan. “Chechens” have been spotted fighting in the Afghan north, including in the provinces of Kunar and Nuristan, and in the southeast.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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12 Comments

  • T sh says:

    These fighters are devils. They are Khwarajee and mischief makers. Quran mentions these people when confronted why they make mischief, they say we make peace not mischief. Pakistan should wipe them out at any cost.

  • Graham says:

    * What language are they speaking?
    * Aren’t they worried about drones?

  • Eddie D. says:

    They will get the kind of peace that only our bullets and bombs will bring to them sooner than they think. These miserable murderers make the rest of us to have to kill them so, we can live in peace. I agree with you T sh let’s wipe them out.

  • gudien says:

    If they are so proud of their cause why do they hide their faces?

  • sajid says:

    They and their ancestor were robbers and they always use to manipulate Historic verses for their personal agenda they but this time they fighting with their big brother (big robbers) and need to more manipulations of Quran and other verses , Khurasaan is belongs to the historic khurasani people , now they are not living in afghanistan or uzbak or tajikistan, or chechian.
    if look at deep ancestor of these people , chachen tajik and uzbak have mangol and turk ancestor, and pashton have israeli lost tribe ancestor. they are not khurasani and even the people living in all these countries not called them khurasani. the only people belongs to iranian khurasan always called them khurasani.

  • Emmett Pierce says:

    Afghanistan and Pakistan are the far Eastern reach of the ten nation “Nation of Islam”or Persian Empire that is being set up to come against Israel in the near future. These two nations will join the New Persian Empire. The nation building is coming to an end. Iran will back fill US withdraw from Iraq (Iraq is for this) and Syria is a brother to Iran. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Libya are partners and brothers to Iran. The three (for sure) NUKE nations Pakistan, Iran, & Turkey will come against Israel with the assistance of russia.. And boy will Islam ever take a destructive beating.

  • Zeissa says:

    What’s this about them manipulating Koranic verses? They seem like pretty orthodox wahhabists to me, a well respected branch of Islam.

  • NUS says:

    @ Graham, “What language are they speaking?”
    I did not watch the clip but I believe that the common language among all of the Central Asian Turkic nationals will be Russian language, in addition to their local and national languages. The only exception would be Eastern Turkestan or Uighur Taliban who also have Turkic root but speak the official language of the Republic of China – Mandarin, in addition to their Uighur language.

  • NUS says:

    They are so brave when they speak on media or interact with unarmed civilians; yet, they are so coward when they die. Do you remember OBL’s associate hiding behind a woman before meeting his death in Abbotabad? Do you remember Sadam hiding in a hole and covered in his own poop and pee, at the time of his capture? Last but not least, do you remember Qaddafi scared like hell and covered in his own blood before being shot? I am sure the same faith awaits these guys.

  • steve m. says:

    Check out this link, I’d like to hear some comments on it. http://news.yahoo.com/afghanistan-back-pakistan-wars-u-karzai-023316217.html

  • Nick says:

    Mr. Roggio, is there a report on the 3 battle fronts you mentioned in this article?

  • Iranian says:

    This article is wrong in relation to where/what Khorasan is.
    Khorosan (the historic Khorasan) only encompassed what is now northeastern Iran, parts of western and northern Afghanistan, and parts of modern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Modern Khorasan exists today only in Iran. Khorasan has nothing to do with Pashtun-Afghanistan let alone what is now Pakistan. Those idiot Islamists cant even get their history and geography right..

Iraq

Islamic state

Syria

Aqap

Al shabaab

Boko Haram

Isis