SUMMARY
The Jihad Islamic Group (JIG, Jama’at al-Jihad al-Islāmī), was a radical and militant Islamist group that sought to overthrow the Government of Uzbekistan and install an Islamic State (see Government of Uzbekistan – JIG). The group was also known as Jaomat (“Community”, Uzbek version of the Arabic word jama’at), or the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU, Ittiḥad al-Jihad al-Islāmī).
The JIG was formed in the early 2000s, most likely in 2002, as a splinter group from the IMU. It is believed that JIG splintered from the IMU after the death of IMU co-leader Juma Namangani in November 2001, and a subsequent rift between IMU’s remaining leader Takhir Yuldashev and Najmiddin Jalolov, who went on to become JIG’s emir. JIG was motivated by extremist Sunni Islamist ideology, seeking the implementation of Sharia law; the group waged jihad primarily against the Government of Uzbekistan. In general, JIG has to a large extent allowed its ideology to be influenced by al-Qaida and the Taleban, and has evolved from a small militant group towards a more transnational jihadist group with an operational zone stretching outside of Uzbekistan.
The first emir (commander) of the JIG was Najmiddin Jalolov, who led the group from the early 2000s until he was killed in a US drone strike on 14 September 2009 in Pakistan. Suhal Buranov (Suleyman Uzbeki) became the new emir, until he was killed in another US drone strike in October 2009. As of 2016, the leader of JIG was believed to be one of its most experienced commanders, Ravshan (sometimes Abdullah, or Muhammad Fotih).
Prior to its first high-profile attacks in Uzbekistan (see Government of Uzbekistan – JIG), JIG set up its cells in Kazakhstan. The group had strong connections to North Waziristan, a part of Pakistan’s Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA), where it received training and maintained its base of operations. It is believed that JIG has never had more than 200 members. In 2007, three JIG members (the “Sauerland group”) were arrested in Germany on terrorism charges after planning attacks against several targets, including the Ramstein Air Base.
JIG had very close ties to al-Qaida and the Taleban movements, both in Afghanistan (see Taleban), particularly the “Haqqani Network”, and in Pakistan (see TTP), receiving support and directions from these actors. It is believed that al-Qaida provided JIG with financial support, and that the group also raised funds from sympathizers in Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, and Europe. It has also been suggested that that the JIG has had contact with the ETIM, an Uighur separatist movement active in China’s Xinjiang region; the nature of this contact does however remain unspecified.
In December 2007, JIG was involved in infighting between various unspecified Taleban factions in Pakistan. Between 2005 and 2008, the JIG carried out at least 10 attacks against NATO and the Afghan National Army in the Paktika Province, Afghanistan; most of these attacks were carried out together with the Taleban or al-Qaida. From 2012, a significant number of JIG fighters joined Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar (JMA, Army of Emigrants and Supporters), a Chechen-led group fighting in Syria against the Government of Syria; JMA joined with Jabhat Fateh al-Sham in 2015.
