Officials: ISIL Recruiting Uzbek Experts

The ISIL terrorist group is attempting to recruit Uzbek experts, including physicians and teachers, by promising huge sums, security officials said.

“The ISIL is trying to lure Uzbek families into the terrorist group and promises them more money to recruit their young elites,” Uzbek security officials said in a statement on Saturday.

“The ISIL is attempting to recruit different people, including physicians, teachers and cooks, with financial promises and then uses them for different operations,” they added.

“Based on information that we have, today 500 to 600 Uzbek citizens are members of the ISIL and are fighting,” Hassan Ma’mourev, an Uzbek security official, said.

In relevant remarks in June, Victor Mikhaylov, a senior security analyst and head of the Anti-Terror website, disclosed that Saudi Arabia has been recruiting Uzbek militants to join the terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria.

In a memo sent to FNA, Mikhaylov revealed the names of a number of Uzbek warlords and ringleaders of the terrorist groups in the Central Asia and Russia and their tight relationship with the Saudi spy agency, revealing how the Saudi spy agency finds and recruits terrorists for operations across the world, specially in Iraq and Syria.

Mikhaylov said one of such ringleaders is Akmal Jorebayev, nicknamed Haji Yousef, who heads Imam al-Bukhari group and is a key figure in the world of Takfiri-Salafi Jihadism.

According to Mikhaylov, Haji Yousef went to Saudi Arabia to continue his studies in 1993 and could find links among the Uzbek nationals residing in Saudi Arabia, including Mohammad Ibrahim Akous, a local prosecutor, who helped him financially and accommodated him. Then he was linked to the Saudi spy agency to provide services as a recruit.

In late 1998, Jorebayev was entrusted with a serious and important responsibility which was meeting Taher Youldash, the ringleader of Turkistan Islamic Movement terrorist group.

In early 1999 Youldash held a meeting with Jorebayev during Hajj pilgrimage and proposed him cooperation, an offer which was well received by Jorebayev.

During the meeting, Youldash urged Jorebayev to act as the representative of the terrorist group in Saudi Arabia, and this was the sign Riyadh was waiting for to infiltrate the Turkistan Islamic Movement.

The representative of Turkistan Islamic Movement was entrusted with some responsibilities, including collecting financial aids for the terrorist group, recruiting new militia for the terrorist group among the Central Asian youth who come to Saudi Arabia for studies and transferring the militia and collected money to Turkistan Islamic Movement’s camps in North Wazirestan, Pakistan.

At the end of 2001 when the US and its allies started war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, the members of Turkistan Islamic Movement also fought against the US and NATO forces.

Actually, Jorebayev was an important agent for the Saudis since he was exactly informed of the money collected for Turkistan Islamic Movement as well as the identity of the Saudi nationals and foreign organizations which aided the terrorist group.

In 2006, Youldash decided to familiarize Jorebayev with warfare skills. Youldash informed the Turkistan Islamic Movement’s warlords of his decision and invited Jorebayev for a short stay in Pakistan, but after Jorebayev arrived in Pakistan, Youldash announced that Jorebayev should not leave Pakistan.

Jorebayev went to Pakistan with the passport of a Kyrgyz religious scholar. He was accompanied by his family (two wives, a daughter and four sons).

Then he underwent special training in a military camp of Turkistan Islamic Movement in Pakistan in North Wazirestan.

In September 2009, Taher Youldash and a number of his commanders were killed in US drone attacks in North Wazirestan.

Ossman Adel, who replaced Youldash as the movement’s leader after his death in 2009, was also killed in 2010. Adel moved the militants to Miranshah region of North Wazirestan during his one year tenure.

Jorebayev, nicknamed Abu Akef, could shortly establish friendly ties with Osman Adel.

The Turkistan Islamic Movement’s leaders decided to establish a school named Abdullah bin Zubeir and Jorebayev was appointed as the head of its military training.

After a while Ossman Qazi became the new leader of Turkistan Islamic Movement. The intelligence officers of the movement informed Qazi of Jorebayev’s background. It became known that Jorebayev had been recruited by Saudi intelligence officers in Medina. They also disclosed to Qazi that Jorebayev had met with CIA officers several times in Saudi Arabia.

The documents gathered by Turkistan Islamic Movement’s intelligence showed that the Pakistani army’s attack on the movement’s positions in 2008 had taken place with the help and coordination of Jorebayev.

The Pakistani army’s main goal was killing the leader of Turkistan Islamic Movement and those warlords who accompanied him to Pakistan through Tajikistan several years ago. However, Youldash had managed to escape together with a group of his loyal forces.

Youldash was not only considered as the founder of Turkistan Islamic Movement, but he was also regarded as the movement’s real leader.

Youldash’s refusal to compromise with non-fidels was highly acclaimed by most of the warlords.

In 2011, the Turkistan movement found evidence about Jorebayev’s cooperation with the Americans and it decided to try him as a traitor.

The movement also obtained documents that Jorebayev had played a role in the deaths of the former leaders of the movement, Taher Youldash and Ossman Adel.

The leaders and warlords of the Turkistan Islamic Movement came under the US drone attacks at nights, and it seemed that someone had marked the residence of the Turkistan Islamic Movement’s leaders for them. Some leaders of Turkistan Islamic Movement believed that Jorebayev had provided the US with relevant intelligence.