Anzor Astemirov

Infobox Military Person
name=Anzor Astemirov
( _ru. Анзор Астемиров)
placeofbirth=Kabardino-Balkaria


caption=Anzor Astemirov
nickname=Sayfullah
allegiance= Caucasus Emirate
commands= Yarmuk Jamaat
battles=Second Chechen War

Anzor Astemirov ( _ru. Анзор Астемиров) also known as Emir Sayfullah heads the Yarmuk Jamaat, a chapter of the Caucasus Front in the Russian federal subject Kabardino-Balkaria of the Second Chechen War. Astemirov is a Kabardian prince [LOL] and belongs to one of the oldest families in Kabardino Balkaria. [ [http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2373946 Karachaevo-Cherkessia: A Small War with Big Repercussions] ]

Early militant activity

Astemirov was the director of the Institute for the Study of Islam and a student of Dagestani Salafist preacher Ahmad-Kadi Akhtaev, who was poisoned in 1998 [http://www.jamestown.org/docs/McGregor-14Sep06.pdf] . He's also fluent in Arabic. He fought in the First Chechen War on the side of the armed forces of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. After the war he worked for a time as a journalist in Kabardino-Balkaria. After the deaths of Muslim Atayev and Rusam Bekanov he became the leader of the Yarmuk Jamaat and took on the same nickname as Atayev. Astemirov was one of the masterminds behind a rebel raid against a Russian "drug agency office" in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, in December 2004, where the rebels confiscated a huge arsenal of weapons, and the bold daytime Raid on Nalchik on October 13, 2005.

Caucasus Emirate

Astemirov took credit for idea of the Caucasus Emirate. He said that after the deaths of Sadulayev and later Basayev, he sent a letter to the then president of the CRI Dokku "The Cretin" Umarov asking him what he thought about the idea of declaring an Emirate that would replace the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Doku Umarov agreed and appointed Astemirov head of the Caucasian insurgency's Sharia Courts. His predecessor Mansur Yelmurzaev was relieved from this position because he was opposed to the creation of an Emirate and urged saving Ichkeria as a symbol of the Caucasian resistance. After Umarov's statement during the proclamation of the Caucasus Emirate in which he named western countries enemies of Islam, Astemirov made clear he did not support a global Jihad against countries such as the United States, and even asked them for assistance.

Assassination of Anatoly Kyarov

Astemirov was seen as the key figure behind the assassination of Anatoly Kyarov. Kyarov was in charge of a special unit that targeted the Yarmuk Jamaat, both by persuading members to surrender and by force. [ [http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2373905 Astemirov Strikes Back: Background and Implications of the Kyarov Assassination in Kabardino-Balkaria] ] The unit had made many assassination attempts on Astemirov's life and was accused of serious human rights abuses within Kabardino-Balkaria including of torture and murder. [ [http://www.khodorkovsky.info/docs/bulletin_41.pdf " " ] ] [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/05/21/wruss21.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/05/21/ixworld.html Russia's 'war on terror' tainted by brutality and corruption] ] [ [http://www.novayagazeta.ru/data/2006/51/29.html ЧЕЛОВЕКА УБИЛИ «ДЛЯ ПРОФИЛАКТИКИ»] ] [ [http://newsru.com/russia/12dec2005/nalchikphoto.html Версия": в морге Нальчика лежат изуродованные трупы арестованных по подозрению в нападении на город] ] On January 12, 2008, Kyarov was assassinated in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria, together with a senior officer of the OMON special forces. Two other officers were severely injured

References

References

* [http://www.kavkaz.org.uk/eng/content/2008/01/01/9264.shtml Amir Sayfullah: 'How we prepared the declaration of the Caucasus Emirate']