Qari Hekmatullah was an Uzbek Islamic militant and commander for the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. With his main base of operations in

Darzab District Darzab ( fa, درزاب) is the southwesternmost district in Jowzjan province, Afghanistan. It borders Sheberghan District to northeast, Sar-e Pol Province to the west and Faryab Province Faryab (Dari: ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of ...

and Qush Tepa District of

Jowzjan Province Jowzjan, sometimes spelled Jawzjan or Jozjan (Dari: ), is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north of the country bordering neighboring Turkmenistan. The province is divided into 11 districts and contains hundreds of v ...

, he extended IS influence into

Faryab Province Faryab (Dari: ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, which is located in the north of the country bordering neighboring Turkmenistan. It has a population of about 1,109,223, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a tribal society. The pr ...

and

Sar-e Pol Province Sar-e Pol, also spelled Sari Pul (Dari/Pashto: ), is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north of the country. It borders Ghor and Bamyan to the south, Samangan to the east, Balkh and Jowzjan to the north, and Fary ...

History

He was born in

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...

and is sometimes said to be the son of

Tohir Yoʻldosh Tohir Yo'ldosh (Yunusov Umid), born Tohir Abdulhalilovich Yuldashev (Yunusov Umid) (russian: Тахир Абдулхалилович Юлдашев (Yunusov Umid) ), (2 October 1967 – 1 October 2009) was an Uzbek Islamist militant who cofound ...

, founder of the

Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU; uz, Ўзбекистон исломий ҳаракати/Oʻzbekiston islomiy harakati; russian: Исламское движение Узбекистана ) was a militant Islamist group formed in 1998 ...

. He had long been a Taliban commander in

and was their shadow governor for

. In Nov 2015, he allegedly accused a woman of adultery and intended to stone her to death, but was prevented. This incident led to him being expelled by the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

for "cruel activities". In October 2016 he joined the

and commanded at least 200 armed men. He soon moved into Qush Tepa District, defeating local

. In 2017 the governor of Sar-e-Pul province said Hekmat was increasing recruitment there.

Death

He was killed in a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

airstrike in the Khawaja Arab village of Bal Chiragh district of Faryab province on 5 April 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hekmat, Qari 2018 deaths Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant members Taliban leaders Uzbekistani expatriates in Afghanistan Uzbekistani Islamists Leaders of Islamic terror groups