Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) | |
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![]() Flag of the Islamic Jihad Union in Uzbekistan | |
Leaders | Najmiddin Jalolov † Abu Omar al-Turkistani †[1] Akhtar Mansour † Ilimbek Mamatov |
Dates of operation | 2002–present |
Split from | Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Headquarters | North Waziristan |
Ideology | |
Size | 200-250 in Afghanistan (2023)[2] |
Allies |
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Opponents | |
Battles and wars | Global War on Terrorism |
The Islamic Jihad Union (IJU; Arabic: اتحاد الجهاد الإسلامي, romanized: Ittiḥad al-Jihad al-Islāmī) is a militant Islamist organization founded in 2002 as a splinter group of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Headquartered in North Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan, the group has been affiliated with both Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Under its original name Islamic Jihad Group (IJG; Arabic: جماعة الجهاد الاسلامي, romanized: Jama'at al-Jihad al-Islāmī), the group conducted several attacks in Uzbekistan. In 2007, a large-scale bomb plot in Germany, known as the "Sauerland terror cell", was discovered by German security authorities.[6] In the following years, the group focused on fighting Pakistani forces in the tribal areas, and NATO and Afghan forces in Afghanistan.[7]
Recruits are mainly Turks both from Turkey and the Turkish communities in Western Europe, but also European converts to Islam, particularly in German-speaking countries.[8]
"Taliban have assured Russia and Central Asian countries that it would not allow any group, including the IMU, to use Afghan soil against any foreign state," Muzhdah said.
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