Tohir Yo'ldosh (Yunusov Umid), born Tohir Abdulhalilovich Yuldashev (Yunusov Umid) (russian: Тахир Абдулхалилович Юлдашев (Yunusov Umid) ), (2 October 1967 – 1 October 2009) was an Uzbek Islamist militant who cofounded the

Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU; uz, Ўзбекистон исломий ҳаракати/Oʻzbekiston islomiy harakati; russian: Исламское движение Узбекистана ) was a militant Islamist group formed in 1998 ...

(IMU), an Islamist organization active in

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former ...

, with

Juma Namangani Jumaboi Ahmadjonovich Khodjiyev (1968 or 1969 – November 2001), better known by the ''nom de guerre'' Juma Namangani, was an Uzbek Islamist militant with a substantial following who co-founded and led the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) w ...

in August 1998. According to the

Defense Intelligence Agency The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense, specializing in defense and military intelligence. A component of the Department of Defense (DoD) and th ...

he was a key leader opposing US forces during

Operation Anaconda Operation Anaconda was a military operation that took place in early March 2002 as part of the War in Afghanistan. CIA paramilitary officers, working with their allies, attempted to destroy al-Qaeda and Taliban forces. The operation took pl ...

. The

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

considers the IMU an Islamic terrorist organization. When Namangan, the IMU's military leader and cofounder, was killed in an airstrike in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

in 2001, Yo'ldosh (Yunusov Umid) took over the IMU's day-to-day operations as well. According to the ''

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

'', Yo'ldosh (Yunusov Umid) learned

Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

was planning to use hijacked airliners to attack the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

11 September 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...

, prior to the attacks. The ''BBC'' reported that Yo'ldosh then informed the Taliban Foreign Minister,

Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil Abdul Ghaffar (born 1971) is a politician in Afghanistan. He was the last Foreign Minister in the Taliban government of the first Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in 2001. Prior to this, he served as spokesman and secretary ...

, who sent an envoy to warn the USA of al Qaeda's attack plans prior to 11 September 2001. According to the ''BBC'' Yo'ldosh was told to initiate an advance warning to the USA of the attacks because he was concerned that an al Qaeda attack on the USA would trigger an American counter-attack, which would imperil the safe haven his group had been enjoying in Afghanistan. A video message from Tohir Yo'ldosh was reportedly distributed throughout the Uzbek areas of Central Asia in early 2007. In the video Tohir was reported to have said: After

Baitullah Mehsud Baitullah Mehsud (Pashto/ ur, ; – 5 August 2009) was one of founder and a leading member of TTP in Waziristan, Pakistan, and the leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). He formed the TTP from an alliance of about five militant group ...

was reported to have been killed by missiles fired from an American

Predator drone The General Atomics MQ-1 Predator (often referred to as the predator drone) is an American remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) built by General Atomics that was used primarily by the United States Air Force (USAF) and Central Intelligence Agen ...

the ''

Asia Times ''Asia Times'' (), formerly known as ''Asia Times Online'', is a Hong Kong-based English language news media publishing group, covering politics, economics, business, and culture from an Asian perspective. ''Asia Times'' publishes in English an ...

'' reported that Yo'ldosh had been Baitullah's ideological mentor, that Tohir had put 2,500 experienced fighters at his disposal, and that Baitullah lived with the Uzbek, who became his biggest ideological inspiration. On 30 September 2009, a man, who claimed to be Yo'ldosh's bodyguard, reported to the Pakistan newspaper ''

The News International ''The News International'', published in broadsheet size, is one of the largest English language newspapers in Pakistan. It is published daily from Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi/Islamabad. An overseas edition is published from London that cat ...

'' that Yo'ldosh was killed in a US Predator drone airstrike shortly after Mehsud's death. Pakistan and US officials afterwards confirmed Yo'ldosh was killed in an airstrike on 27 August 2009. Yuldashev reportedly lost a leg and arm in the drone missile strike on 27 August 2009 and was rushed to a private hospital in Zhob district of Balochistan where he died on 1 October. His death was formally announced by the IMU on 16 August 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yoldash, Tohir 1967 births 2009 deaths Soviet military personnel Terrorism in Central Asia Uzbekistani Islamists Uzbekistani expatriates in Pakistan Deaths by United States drone strikes in Pakistan People of the insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Soviet military personnel of the Soviet–Afghan War Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan Pakistan–Uzbekistan relations Leaders of Islamic terror groups People from Fergana

See also

References