DUSHANBE. Sept 8 (Interfax) - The Tajik Interior Ministry will send its Russian colleagues a request to provide proof of the death of one of the leaders of the Islamic State (ISIL, terrorist organization outlawed in Russia), Gulmurod Khalimov, the elimination of whom the Russian Foreign Ministry reported earlier on Friday.
"We will contact our colleagues in the Russian Interior Ministry and ask that they provide proof of Khalimov's death," Tajik Interior Ministry spokesman Umardzhoni Emomali said on Friday, noting that once information is obtained, the issue of removing the terrorist's name from wanted lists will be considered.
It was reported earlier that about 40 ISIL militants, including four key field commanders, were destroyed in a Russian air strike near the city of Deir ez-Zor.
"It has been confirmed that four influential field commanders, including Deir ez-Zor Amir Abu Muhammad ash-Shimali, who supervised finances and the transfer of new recruits to ISIL training bases, were among the militants killed," a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry said.
"It has also been established that 'war minister' of the ISIL international terrorist group Gulmurod Khalimov was attending the conference [during the attack] and died of a fatal wound," he said.
According to the Russian military, Khalimov was a former commander of the Tajik Interior Ministry's OMON unit.
The media said that Khalimov had been named successor to former ISIL leader al-Baghdadi.
Khalimov served in the presidential guard during the civil war in Tajikistan. In 1997, he joined the OMON special task police and received several state awards and the rank of colonel. He graduated from the Higher Academy of the Tajik Interior Ministry, received special anti-terrorist training in the United States, and participated in operations against anti-government armed groups in the Rasht Valley in 2009 and Khorog in 2012.
In April 2015, Gulmurod Khalimov suddenly declared his affiliation with ISIL, where he became "the defense minister." A criminal case was opened against him in Tajikistan on charges of high treason, affiliation with a criminal group, and illegal participation in armed conflicts or hostilities in foreign countries. He was stripped of his military rank and put on the wanted list in May 2015.
In September 2015, Khalimov was included, along with 35 other ISIL-connected people and organizations, on a list of terrorists on whom the United States had imposed sanctions. U.S. authorities posted a $3 million reward for information on his whereabouts in 2016.
Western media repeatedly reported the injury or even death of Khalimov in Iraq, but only the injury reports were eventually confirmed.