Said Buryatsky (February 10, 1982 – March 2, 2010) was an Islamist militant leader in the Russian

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...

. Buryatsky had been among the most-wanted men in Russia, and he was considered an

ideologue An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied pri ...

leader of the Islamist rebels in Chechnya and southern Russia. He was known in the region as a Russian counterpart of Osama bin Laden. Buryatsky had been identified in

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

videos, wearing camouflage while preaching radical Islam with an assault rifle.

Biography

Buryatsky, whose birth name was Alexander Alexandrovitch Tikhomirov, was born February 10, 1982, in

Ulan-Ude Ulan-Ude (; bua, Улаан-Үдэ, , ; russian: Улан-Удэ, p=ʊˈlan ʊˈdɛ; mn, Улаан-Үд, , ) is the capital city of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located about southeast of Lake Baikal on the Uda River at its confluence wi ...

, the capital of Buryatia. His father was a Buryat, and his mother was a russian. Raised as Buddhist, he reportedly converted to Islam at the age of 15. He studied at a Muslim theological institute in Orenburg, run by one of Russia's official Muslim Spiritual Boards, and then, from 2002-2005, studied in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

and

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

. Buryatsky moved to the

in late 2007 or early 2008, where he became an important

of the

Caucasus Emirate The Caucasus Emirate ( ce, Имарат Кавказ, Imarat Kavkaz, IK; russian: Кавказский эмират, Kavkazskiy emirat), also known as the Caucasian Emirate, Emirate of Caucasus, or Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus, was a Jihadist ...

. He criticized Sufi Muslims, critics of the Emirate, and spoke out against the commanders who disagreed with

Dokka Umarov Doku Khamatovich Umarov ( ce, Ӏумар Хьамади кӀант Докка, translit='Umar Ẋamadi khant Dokka, ; russian: Доку Хаматович Умаров, Doku Khamatovich Umarov; 13 April 1964 – 7 September 2013), also known as ...

. Buryatsky was reportedly responsible for the reactivation of the Riyadus-Salikhin

shahid ''Shaheed'' ( , , ; pa, ਸ਼ਹੀਦ) denotes a martyr in Islam. The word is used frequently in the Quran in the generic sense of "witness" but only once in the sense of "martyr" (i.e. one who dies for his faith); ...

brigade of

suicide bombers A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...

originally formed by Chechen field commander

Shamil Basayev Shamil Salmanovich Basayev ( ce, Салман ВоӀ Шамиль ; russian: Шамиль Салманович Басаев; 14 January 1965 – 10 July 2006), also known by his kunya "Abu Idris", was a senior military commander in the Cheche ...

. He was being investigated for involvement with the 2009 Nevsky Express bombing, leaving 28 dead and 90 wounded; however, he was never brought to trial. On March 2, 2010, Buryatsky was killed in the village of Ekazhevo in Ingushetia (Russia), during a Russian military operation involving units of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Russian Interior Ministry. A spokesman said that FSB troops had found a bomb factory inside the same house where the militants had been cornered in Ingushetia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buryatsky, Said 2010 deaths Caucasus Emirate members Buryat people Russian Islamists Russian rebels 1982 births Converts to Islam from Buddhism