Over 10,000 Citizens of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan Fought for ISIS: Reports

Jihadi Groups in Central Asian Countries i.e. Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and the Uyghurs are actively engaging in ideological education of children and youth to work towards developing “Islamic Caliphate” according to latest reports.

As per latest reports, the bloody reign of the Caliphate, more than 10,000 citizens from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and the Uyghurs from China’s northwest fought on the side of ISIS.

“Many of them made a Hijrah (migration of Muslims for jihad) to Iraq and Syria to protect the values of true Islam and brought their families with small children there. Subsequently, some of these children entered the battalion ‘Curb of the Caliphate’ and became protagonists in the Islamic State’s propaganda.”

According to a report by the International Crisis Group, both Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks are often drawn to stringent versions of Islam and even consider Syria for personal and social reasons. “While Kyrgyz nationalists claim ethnic Uzbeks turn to extremist Islam for political reasons and revenge for 2010 when more than 400 mostly Uzbeks were killed in ethnic violence, there is growing evidence that both Kyrgyz and Uzbeks are finding recourse in more radical forms of Islam.

Many people from both groups are drawn to non-violent Islamist groups such as the Hizb ut-Tahrir but some are also attracted to more violent ideologies and groups.”

The statistical research reveals that in 2013-2018, more than 55 videos, audio and text materials were released by the Islamic State’s media wings with the participation of Central Asia’s children in Arabic, Uygur, Uzbek, Russian, Kyrgyz and Tajik.

But after the fall of the Caliphate, propaganda videos almost ceased. “With the diminishing possibilities of the Islamic State’s media resources, the propaganda and ideological activity of the Al Qaeda-linked Central Asian Salafi-jihadi groups have recently increased in contrast.”

The Uzbek militants of Katibat al-Tawhid wal jihad (KTJ) and Katibat Imam al-Bukhari (KIB), as well as Uyghur jihadists of the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) from the Chinese province of Xinjiang are affiliated with Al Qaeda. Botobekov says these groups regularly publish propaganda videos of children from Syria’s Idlib province.

“Since 2013, Al Qaeda has posted about 30 videos – audio and text materials in which Central Asian’s children made up the main plot.” Botobekov said the most common characteristic of Al Qaeda and ISIS’s curriculum in madrasas is learning the Quran by heart, Tawhid (monotheism), Fiqh (jurisprudence), Salat (prayers), Aqidah (creed), Hadith and Sura (life of the Prophet Muhammad).

And the second most common characteristic is the call to jihad. “The doctrine of jihad is the main place in the ideology of both Sunni terrorist groups, and accordingly, in the madrasas and training camps, children are brainwashed from early childhood with ideas of holy jihad.”

Furthermore, the Uzbek and Uyghur imams who are Al Qaeda sympathizers tell children about the enemies of Islam which they ranked on par with the Kafir regimes of the USA, Russia and China, also the Kharijites (those who defected from the Ummah and rebelled against the Caliph) of the Islamic State and its leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.

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