Russia claims it killed IS ‘Minister of War’ with bunker buster bombs on secret Syria hideout
A former colonel, Gulmurod Khalimov headed the Tajik interior ministry’s special forces unit and received American training before joining IS in 2015
Russia claimed on Friday to have killed several top commanders of Islamic State (IS) in an air strike in Syria, including the “Minister of War” and the so-called Emir of Deir-al-Zor.
“As a result of a precision air strike of the Russian air forces in the vicinity of Deir-al-Zor city, a command post, communication centre and some 40 IS fighters have been killed,” the Russian defence ministry said in a statement posted on Facebook.
“According to confirmed data, among the killed fighters are four influential field commanders including Deir-al-Zor emir Abu Mohammed al-Shimali,” the ministry said.
Gulmurod Khalimov, who is known as the IS group’s Minister of War and the highest-ranking defector from ex-Soviet Tajikistan, suffered a “fatal injury”, it added.
Russia’s warplanes dropped “bunker buster” bombs on the fighters as they were meeting near Deir-al-Zor to discuss how to respond to the advance of the Syrian army, Moscow said.
Backed by Russia, Syrian troops on Tuesday broke through a years-long siege imposed by IS militants on tens of thousands of civilians in Deir-al-Zor.