Islamic Jihad Union
| Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) | |
|---|---|
Flag of the Islamic Jihad Union in Uzbekistan | |
| Leaders | Najmiddin Jalolov † Abu Omar al-Turkistani † Akhtar Mansour † Ilimbek Mamatov |
| Dates of operation | 2002–2025 |
| Split from | Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan |
| Merged into | Syrian Armed Forces (Syrian faction) Afghan Armed Forces (Taliban, Afghan faction) |
| Allegiance | Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (since 2015) |
| Headquarters | North Waziristan, Pakistan (historical) Idlib, Syria (before the Syrian rebel takeover and fall of Assad) Badakhshan, Afghanistan (after the Taliban takeover) |
| Ideology | |
| Size | 250 (2023, in Afghanistan) |
| Allies |
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| Opponents |
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| Battles and wars | |
battles, war.The Islamic Jihad Union (IJU; Arabic: اتحاد الجهاد الإسلامي, romanized: Ittiḥad al-Jihad al-Islāmī) was a militant Islamist organization founded in 2002 as a splinter group of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). It was Headquartered in North Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan it was based in Badakhshan in 2021. The group had 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. In the following years, the group focused on fighting Pakistani forces in the tribal areas, and NATO and Afghan forces in Afghanistan.
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.
It is likely that some members of the Syrian branch, have become part of the Syrian transitional government's new 84th Division.