Doku Khamatovich Umarov, also known as Dokka Umarov as well as by his Arabized name of Dokka Abu Umar, was a Chechen mujahid in North Caucasus. Umarov was a major military figure in both wars in Chechnya during the 1990s and 2000s, before becoming the leader of the greater insurgency in the North Caucasus. He was active mostly in south-western Chechnya, near and across the borders with Ingushetia and Georgia.
The Caucasian Front, also known as Caucasus Front or the Caucasian Mujahideen, established in May 2005 as an Islamic structural unit of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria's armed forces by the decree of the fourth president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Abdul-Halim Sadulayev. In September 2006, Ali Taziev was appointed as the emir and commander-in-chief of the Caucasian Front by Dokku Umarov. The group eventually reorganized as "Vilayat Nokhchicho" in 2007 and became a part of the Caucasus Emirate.
Vilayat Dagestan, formerly known as Shariat Jamaat, was an Islamist Jihadist group based in the Russian republic of Dagestan and is part of the Caucasus Emirate. The group is closely associated with the separatist conflicts in the nearby Russian republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia, and was created during the Second Chechen War in favor of Dagestan's independence as an Islamic state.
The United Vilayat of Kabarda-Balkaria-Karachay, also known as Vilayat KBK, was a militant Islamist Jihadist organization connected to numerous attacks against the local and federal security forces in the Russian republics of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia in the North Caucasus. Vilayet KBK has been a member of the Caucasus Emirate group since 2007.
The Caucasus Emirate, also known as the Caucasian Emirate, Emirate of Caucasus, or Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus, was a jihadist organisation active in rebel-held parts of Syria and previously in the North Caucasus region of Russia. Its intention was to expel the Russian presence from the North Caucasus and to establish an independent Islamic emirate in the region. The Caucasus Emirate also referred to the state that the group sought to establish. The creation of Caucasus Emirate was announced on 7 October 2007, by Chechen warlord Dokka Umarov, who became its first self-declared "emir".
Vilayat Galgayche, formely known as Ingush Jamaat, was an Islamist militant organization connected to numerous attacks against the local and federal security forces in the Russian regions of Ingushetia and Chechnya in the North Caucasus. Since 2007 it has been a part of the Caucasus Emirate and takes part in the Insurgency in the North Caucasus. The group is thought to be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people, mostly policemen, military personnel and officials.
Kataib al-Khoul, also known as the Ossetian Jamaat and Vilayat Iriston, was a militant Islamist organization connected to numerous attacks against the local and federal security forces in the Russian region of North Ossetia–Alania in the North Caucasus. It was part of the Caucasian Front of the Second Chechen War. Its existence inside a republic which is largely Russian Orthodox had led to denial by officials who refused to recognise that an Islamic insurgency group existed in Ossetia, and instead blamed the attacks on the Ingush Jamaat.
The insurgency in the North Caucasus was a low-level armed conflict between Russia and militants associated with the Caucasus Emirate and, from June 2015, the Islamic State, in the North Caucasus. It followed the official end of the decade-long Second Chechen War on 16 April 2009. It attracted volunteers from the MENA region, Western Europe, and Central Asia. The Russian legislation considers the Second Chechen War and the insurgency described in this article as the same "counter-terrorist operations on the territory of the North Caucasus region".
Khuseyn Vakhaevich Gakayev, also known as Emir Mansur and Emir Hussein, was a mujahid Emir (commander) fighting in Chechnya. He was one of the most senior field commanders still operating in the North Caucasus prior to his death on 24 January 2013.
Israpil Velijanov, also known as Emir Hassan, was the militant leader of the Vilayat Dagestan of the Caucasus Emirate, in the volatile southern Russian republic of Dagestan following the death of Magomed Vagabov.
Magomed Vagabov, also known as Emir Seyfullah or Seyfullah Gubdensky, was the leader of the militant Vilayat Dagestan organisation in the Russian Republic of Dagestan, and the Supreme Qadi of the Caucasus Emirate.
Aslan Avgazarovich Byutukayev, also known as Emir Khamzat and Abubakar was a Chechen terrorist commander in the Islamic State (IS) Wilayah al-Qawqaz, the commander of the Riyad-us Saliheen Brigade of Martyrs and a close associate of the deceased Caucasus Emirate leader Dokka Umarov. Byutukayev was listed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the United States on 13 July 2016. He was killed by Russian special operatives in January 2021.
Asker Dzhappuyev also known as Emir Abdullah, was the leader of the Jihadist United Vilayat of Kabarda-Balkaria-Karachay organisation in the Russian Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria.
Rustam Asildarov (Aselderov) (9 March 1981 – 3 December 2016), also known as Emir Abu Muhammad Kadarsky, was the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) North Caucasus branch, and a former leader of the militant Caucasus Emirate's Vilayat Dagestan wing.
Arthur Getagazhev, also known as Emir Abdullah or Ubaydullakh, was an Islamist militant leader in the Russian North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia.
In December 2013, two separate suicide bombings a day apart targeted mass transportation in the city of Volgograd, in the Volgograd Oblast of Southern Russia, killing 34 people overall, including both perpetrators. The attacks followed a bus bombing carried out in the same city two months earlier.
Aliaskhab Alibulatovich Kebekov, also known as Ali Abu Muhammad, was a Dagestani militant Islamist in Russia and the leader of the Caucasus Emirate following the death of inaugural leader Dokka Umarov. Following in the same religious tradition as Umarov, he adhered to the ideology of Salafism. The United States Department of State added Kebekov to its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists on March 25, 2015. On 19 April 2015, Kebekov was killed by Russian security forces during special operations in the settlement of Gerei-Avlak in Buynaksk. An Avar by nationality, Kebekov was the first non-Chechen to lead the North Caucasus insurgency.
The Province of Nokhchicho was the Chechen-based wing of the Caucasus Emirate organisation. It was created in 2007 as one of the Emirate's six vilayats, replacing the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
Magomed Aliyevich Suleimanov, also known as Abu Usman Gimrinsky, was a Dagestani Islamist in Russia and the third leader of the Caucasus Emirate militant group.
The Islamic State – Caucasus Province is a branch of the militant Islamist group Islamic State (IS), that is active in the North Caucasus region of Russia. IS announced the group's formation on 23 June 2015 and appointed Rustam Asildarov as its leader. Although it was defeated militarily as an organized force by 2017, some lone wolves acted on behalf of the Caucasus Province for several years afterwards.
Caucasus Emirate