WASHINGTON: The Uni­ted States on Tuesday slapped a $3 million bounty on a former Tajik special operations commander who received American training but later defected to the militant Islamic State extremist group.

Gulmorod Khalimov, now 41, is a former colonel in Tajikistan’s interior ministry police special operations unit and a trained sniper. Last year he declared allegiance to the IS group.

According to US officials, between 2003 and 2014 Khalimov attended five training courses in the United States and Tajikistan paid for by a US State Department anti-terrorism programme.

In May 2015, he appeared in a video distributed online, bearded and in a black head scarf, bearing a sniper rifle and vowing to bring “jihad” to Russia, Tajikistan and the United States.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2016

Opinion

Editorial

Afghan turbulence
Updated 19 Mar, 2024

Afghan turbulence

RELATIONS between the newly formed government and Afghanistan’s de facto Taliban rulers have begun on an...
In disarray
19 Mar, 2024

In disarray

IT is clear that there is some bad blood within the PTI’s ranks. Ever since the PTI lost a key battle over ...
Festering wound
19 Mar, 2024

Festering wound

PROTESTS unfolded once more in Gwadar, this time against the alleged enforced disappearances of two young men, who...
Defining extremism
Updated 18 Mar, 2024

Defining extremism

Redefining extremism may well be the first step to clamping down on advocacy for Palestine.
Climate in focus
18 Mar, 2024

Climate in focus

IN a welcome order by the Supreme Court, the new government has been tasked with providing a report on actions taken...
Growing rabies concern
18 Mar, 2024

Growing rabies concern

DOG-BITE is an old problem in Pakistan. Amid a surfeit of public health challenges, rabies now seems poised to ...