Katibat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (Uzbek: Tavhid va jihod katibasi, Kyrgyz: Катибат аль-Таухид ва аль-жихад, romanized: Katibat al'-Taukhid va al'-zhikhad, Arabic: كتائب التوحيد والجهاد, romanized: Kitā'ib al-tawḥīd wa-al-jihād) is an Uzbek/Kyrgyz jihadist militant organization based in Syria.
History
The group was established in Syria in 2014 by Sirojiddin Mukhtarov,[9] and consists of mostly Uzbek and Kyrgyz nationals.[10]
In 2016 the group bombed the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan, under Mukhtarov's orders.[13] Three people were arrested and sentenced for aiding and abetting the bombing.[14]
In 2019 the group hired hitmen to kill Aierken Saimaiti, a man who exposed a large money laundering scheme.[15] Also in 2019, the groups Shura council voted unanimously to replace Mukhtarov with Ilmurad Khikmatov.[16]
In 2021 two of the head propagandists of the organization were arrested in the town of Tanzim after attempting to recruit Uzbek school children to go to Syria to fight for the group.[17]
In 2022 the United States designated the group a terrorist organization.[18] Also the same year, in September, Mukhtarov, the original founder of the organization, was killed in a targeted airstrike by the Russian Air Force.[19][20]
In 2023, a foreign supporter of the group in Philadelphia attempted to build an IED in order to bomb certain targets in support of the group.[21] The group supplied the materials overseas.[22]
In 2024 it was reported that militants from the group were operating in Idlib province of Syria and were clashing with the Syrian armed forces.[23]
