Abdulla Kurd

Abdulla Kurd
5th Emir of the Arab Mujahideen in Chechnya
In office
21 April 2011  3 May 2011
Preceded by Muhannad
Succeeded by Position vacant
Personal details
Born 20 April 1977[1]
Turkey
Died 3 May 2011[1]
Sharo-Argun, Chechnya
Religion Sunni Islam
Military service
Allegiance Caucasus Emirate
Battles/wars Second Chechen War
North Caucasus Insurgency

Doger Sevdet (Russian: Догер Севдет), more commonly known as Abdulla Kurd (sometimes Abdullah Kurd), and also known as Abdullah al-Turki or Salauddin, was a Kurdish Islamist militant fighting in Chechnya. Kurd was the top deputy to Saudi-born field commander Muhannad, the fourth Emir of the Arab Mujahideen in Chechnya. Following Muhannad's capture and assassination near the village of Serzhen-Yurt on 21 April 2011, Kurd assumed his position according to the Russian National Anti-Terrorist Committee.[2] He was killed by Russian security forces in the Cheberloevsky[3] area of Chechnya on 3 May 2011.[4]

Rebel activity

Virtually nothing is known of Kurd's early life, but he is said to have traveled from his native Turkey to the North Caucasus in 1991 after transiting through the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia.[4] Russian intelligence claims that Kurd fought in the battalion of foreign fighters led by Ibn al-Khattab during the Second Chechen War, and was closely involved in planning and organizing large-scale acts of sabotage and terrorism throughout the region. Following Abu Hafs al-Urduni's death in 2006 and Muhannad's promotion to the post of Emir of foreign fighters in Chechnya, Kurd became deputy chief emissary for al-Qaeda in the North Caucasus, according to Russia's National Anti-terrorism Committee (NAK).[5]

Death

Kurd was killed on 3 May 2011 in a special operation near the village of Sharo-Argun, in the Cheberloevsky area of Chechnya. According to the Russian NAK, a contingent of pro-Moscow Chechen Federal Security Service (FSB) troops along with Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) forces conducting search and reconnaissance activities in forested, mountainous terrain came across Kurd and a Dagestani militant; both were killed in the ensuing skirmish.[5]

A rebel account of Kurd's death released nearly two years later offered new information. According to Kavkaz Center, Russian forces located and surrounded a small rebel base acting on a tip from Beslan Algiriyev, an FSB plant in the militant ranks.[3] Four fighters were present at the encampment: killed alongside Kurd was a 24-year-old Dagestani identified as Ramazan Bartiyev, while two others identified as Aburayk Yusupkhadzhiyev and Isa Vagapov were wounded but escaped the encirclement (only later to be killed alongside Khuseyn Gakayev in January 2013).[3] Algiriyev's status as an agent of the FSB was eventually discovered, and he was executed on 22 August 2011.[3]

Kurd's Turkish passport containing visas to Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Pakistan was recovered at the scene and later displayed via Russian news outlets.[5]

References

External links

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