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THE WORLD

Siberia to the Caucasus: A journey of radicalization

Suspected trainer of Moscow subway bombers began as a convert to Islam and became the symbol of an insurgency

by Philip P. Pan

in moscow

H

e had been a bright but lonely child from a sleepy city near the Mongolian border, in a Buddhist region of

Russia far from the nation’s Mus- lim centers. But by the time he was killed last month, thousands of miles away in the volatile North Caucasus, Alexander Tikhomirov had become the face of an Islam- ist insurgency. After two young women blew themselves up on the Moscow subway last week, killing 40 peo- ple in the city’s worst terrorist at- tack in years, investigators said they suspected that Tikhomirov had recruited and trained them, and perhaps dozens of other sui- cide bombers. How the schoolboy whom neighbors called Sascha became the tech-savvy militant known as Sayid Buryatsky remains a ques- tion wrapped in rumor and specu- lation. But the outline of Tik- homirov’s journey from the Sibe- rian steppes to the mountains of Chechnya provides a sense of the challenge that radical Islam poses in Russia and the speed with which the insurgency in the na- tion’s southwest is changing. In less than two years with the rebels, Tikhomirov became their most effective propagandist, drawing in young Muslims with his fluent Russian, colloquial in- terpretations of Islam and mas- tery of the Internet. When securi- ty forces gunned him down last month at age 27, the guerrillas im- mediately cast him as a martyr. Even in death, he remains in- fluential. The rebel leader Doku Umarov has vowed fresh attacks in the Russian heartland by the brigade of suicide bombers that Tikhomirov helped revive. And he remains a digital legend, with his writings and videos preserved on the Web and his DVDs sold out- side mosques across the former Soviet Union. Neighbors in Ulan Ude, capital of the Siberian province of Bur- yatia, remember Tikhomirov as an awkward boy from a troubled family. His father was Buryat, an ethnic minority related to Mon- gols, and died soon after he was born. His mother, said to be an ethnic Russian, struggled to make ends meet at a local market. One resident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of police scrutiny, said Tikhomirov’s interest in Islam came after he was forced to drop out of high school and attend vocational school. Others traced it to a step- father from the Caucasus. But in a letter posted on a rebel

Volatile geography

Recent suicide bombings in Moscow have intensified the focus on Russia’s North Caucasus region, where authorities are struggling to suppress an Islamist insurgency. Since the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, the region has been marred by hostilities and tensions stemming from lingering disputes with Moscow and among its 50 ethnic groups. The insurgents have stepped up their attacks and, after a long lull, at least 22 suicide bombings have been recorded in Russia since August 2008, almost all of them in the North Caucasus. The area’s history of conflict:

1940s 1950s

Stalinist deportations

During World War II, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin accused populations in the republics of Ingushetia and Chechnya of collaborating with Nazi Germany and deported them to Siberia and Central Asia. In the late 1950s, when the expelled people returned to Russia, republic boundaries had been redrawn and forced many to be displaced from their original properties. This caused tensions among North Ossetia, Ingushetia and Chechnya.

Russia values North Ossetia’s strategic mountain route into Georgia, the Roki Tunnel, and Dagestan’s access to the Caspian Sea for transporting oil exports.

R U S S I A

RUSSIA

ABKHAZIA

ABKHAZIA

Black Sea

TURKEY TURKEY

1960s 1970s

The Chechen wars

Chechens fought two wars against Russia to gain independence — the first beginning in 1994, a few years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the second beginning in 1999. Russian troops regained control of Chechnya but continued to battle the rebels, spilling violence into neighboring republics. The militants staged terrorist attacks across Russia in the early 2000s.

Caspian Sea

0

INGUSHETIAINGUSHETIA CHECHNYA

Nazran Nazran

OSSETIA N.

OSSETIA

S.

Tskhinvali Tskhinvali GEORGIA GEORGIA

0 MILES

ARMENIA ARMENIA

SOURCES: CIA World Factbook, Center for Strategic and International Studies, International Relations and Security Network, BBC DWUAN JUNE, CRISTINA RIVERO AND LARIS KARKLIS/THE WASHINGTON POST

Web site, Tikhomirov’s mother said he was simply drawn in by a library copy of the Koran when he was 17. “That same year, he started to search for people who could tell him anything about Islam,” she wrote. Tikhomi-

rov may have had an early brush with Is- lamic extrem- ism and Rus- sia’s heavy- handed ef- forts to stamp it out. An Uzbek preacher named Bakhtiyar Umarov moved to his city about the time he con- verted, and Tikhomirov studied with him, acquaintances said. Af- ter Umarov caused a stir by trying

Tikhomirov was killed in March by Russian security forces.

to build a mosque, Russia deport- ed the preacher to Uzbekistan, where he was jailed on charges of “terrorist propaganda.” But his defenders insist that he is a mod- erate and could not have radi- calized Tikhomirov. In his late teens, Tikhomirov moved to Moscow, where he at- tended an Islamic college that the authorities later closed in a crack- down on suspected extremism. He then traveled to Cairo, where he studied Arabic and attended lectures by Muslim scholars, one of whom he cited years later to justify violence in the name of Is- lam. In 2003, he returned to Mos-

cow, telling friends that the Egyp- tian authorities had kicked him out for his religious activities. He took the Muslim name Sayid, call- ing himself Sayid Buryatsky. But he seemed far from ready

to join the rebels in the North Caucasus. Investigators say he took a job as a low-level assistant to the Russian Council of Muftis, which unites the nation’s Muslim spiritual boards.

Suppressed by the czars and the Communists, Islam has enjoyed a fitful rebirth in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union. Most of the nation’s estimated 20 million Muslims are ethnic minorities who adhere to a moderate branch of the faith. But radical views have made inroads, fueled by foreign proselytizers and frustration with state-backed spiritual leaders. Acquaintances say Tikhomirov

embraced a movement known as Salafism, which argues that Islam has been corrupted over the cen- turies and urges a return to the stricter practices of the earliest Muslims. The movement is popu- lar among young Muslims in Rus-

100

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OSSETIA

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Tbilisi

Tbilisi AZERBAI JAN AZERBAIJAN Baku

Roki Tunnel Roki Tunnel

CHECHNYA

Grozny Grozny

DAGESTAN DAGESTAN

Makhachkala

TURKEY IRAQ IRAN

MILES

MISHA JAPARIDZE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Police stand on a subway platform last week at one of the Moscow stations hit by suicide bombers. The attacks killed 40 people.

sia, but the security forces often target its adherents as extremists. Russia’s traditional Islamic leaders have tried to steer young people toward moderate views, but a severe shortage of mosques, due in part to state limits, has made that difficult. In Moscow, six mosques serve as many as 3 mil- lion believers, the largest Muslim population of any city in Europe. Aslam Ezhaev, director of an Is- lamic publishing house, said Tik- homirov voiced frustration with Muslim officialdom and eventual- ly returned to Buryatia, where he took a job as a warehouse guard and offered to translate Arabic books for him. Ezhaev suggested that Tikho- mirov start a podcast for his Web site, Radio Islam. Tikhomirov proved be a talented preacher; his lectures were an immediate hit. Ezhaev said he opposed vio- lence and forbade Tikhomirov to discuss jihad. “It was easy for him to stay within the limits,” he said. “I didn’t see any signs of fanat- icism.”

On the Web, radicals criticized Tikhomirov for refusing to talk about Russia’s brutal efforts to crush the insurgency in the Cau- casus, where rebels in 2007 de- clared jihad to establish an Islam- ist emirate. In the spring of 2008, Tik- homirov received a recruitment video from a senior rebel com-

mander. “I considered it probably three or five seconds,” he recalled in a video of his own, then con- cluded that God was challenging him to back up his sermons with action.

Because of his mixed ethnicity, he quickly became a powerful symbol for an insurgency trying to expand beyond Chechnya to the rest of the Caucasus. His ser- mons, which he filmed in combat gear, weaved scripture with sar- casm, striking a chord in an im- poverished Muslim region brim- ming with resentment against the security forces.

Tikhomirov called the screams of injured enemies “music for the ears” and detailed his central role in the campaign of suicide bomb- ings that began last summer with the revival of Riyad-us Saliheen, a brigade that once staged attacks across Russia. “While I am alive,” he wrote in December, “I will do everything possible so that the ranks of Ri- yad-us Saliheen are broadened and new waves of mujaheddin go on to martyrdom operations.” On March 2, when security forces surrounded him and other fighters in a village in Ingushetia, Tikhomirov recorded a final ser- mon on his mobile phone, offi- cials said. The authorities recov- ered the phone, along with a 50- liter barrel of explosives.

panp@washpost.com

Muslim cleric is first U.S. citizen on list of those CIA is allowed to kill

by Greg Miller

A Muslim cleric tied to the at- tempted bombing of a Detroit- bound airliner has become the first U.S. citizen added to a list of suspected terrorists the CIA is au- thorized to kill, a U.S. official said Tuesday. Anwar al-Aulaqi, who resides

in Yemen, was previously placed on a target list maintained by the U.S. military’s Joint Special Op-

erations Command and has sur- vived at least one strike carried out by Yemeni forces with U.S. as- sistance against a gathering of suspected al-Qaeda operatives. Because he is a U.S. citizen, adding Aulaqi to the CIA list re- quired special approval from the White House, officials said. The move means that Aulaqi would be considered a legitimate target not only for a military strike car- ried out by U.S. and Yemeni forces, but also for lethal CIA op-

erations. “He’s in everybody’s sights,” said the U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the topic’s sensitivity. CIA spokesman Paul Gimiglia- no said: “This agency conducts its counterterrorism operations in strict accord with the law.” The decision to add Aulaqi to the CIA target list reflects the view among agency analysts that a man previously regarded main- ly as a militant preacher has tak-

en on an expanded role in al- Qaeda’s Yemen-based offshoot. “He’s recently become an op-

erational figure for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,” said a second U.S. official. “He’s work- ing actively to kill Americans, so it’s both lawful and sensible to try to stop him.” The official stressed that there are “careful procedures our government follows in these kinds of cases, but U.S. citizen- ship hardly gives you blanket protection overseas to plot the

DIGEST

BRITAIN

General election is set for May 6

After months of preliminary skirmishing among Britain’s political

parties, Prime Minister Gordon Brown asked Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday to dissolve Parliament, triggering what many observers expect to be the most closely fought national election in dec- ades. Britons go to the polls May 6. As the official campaign got un-

Gordon Brown, left, could be unseated by David Cameron.

derway, all parties agreed on the key issues: tackling Britain’s enor- mous deficit, bolstering the coun- try’s fragile economy and protect- ing public services. Brown’s Labor Party has been in power for 13 years, but the 59-year-

old leader is seeking to win his first national election. (He succeeded Tony Blair, who stepped down in 2007.) In Britain, the electorate votes for a party, not a president, and the

Conservatives are currently leading by as much as 10 points in some opinion polls. But the margin is still close enough that many predict a hung Parliament, in which no party has a majority and each has to seek deals with others. If that happens, the third-party Liberal Democrats could decide who becomes prime minister. The closeness of the race marks a dramatic change since December, when Conservative leader David Cameron appeared set to sweep into power with an outright majority. If his party does win, the 43-year-old would be the youngest prime minister in nearly two centuries.

— Karla Adam

CHINA

Report says hackers stole Indian secrets

China-based hackers stole In- dian national security informa- tion, 1,500 e-mails from the Dalai Lama’s office and other sensitive documents, a new report said Tuesday.

Researchers at the University

of Toronto said they had mon- itored the hacking for the past eight months and traced it to core servers located in China and to people based in the southwestern city of Chengdu. Their report cited no evidence

the Chinese government was in- volved, but it again put Beijing on the defensive. Separate reports earlier this year said cybersecur- ity investigators had traced at- tacks on Google and other firms to China-based computers. “We are firmly opposed to all kinds of hacking,” Foreign Min- istry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in response to questions.

— Associated Press

INDIA

Priest accused in U.S. is open to extradition

A Catholic priest charged with

sexually assaulting a 14-year-old female parishioner in Minnesota said he is willing to leave his na- tive India and try to clear his name in the courts if the United States tries to extradite him. The Rev. Joseph Palanivel Jeya- paul was one of many foreign priests brought to help fill short- ages in U.S. parishes. Last year, about a quarter of newly or- dained priests in the United States were foreign-born.

— Associated Press

Venezuela accuses 8 Colombi- ans of espionage: Venezuelan

authorities have arrested eight Colombians, and the country’s top security official accused them of spying. Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami said the Colombians were detained more than a week ago and are suspected of gather- ing information on Venezuela’s electricity system.

murder of your fellow citizens.” Aulaqi corresponded by e-mail with Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of kill- ing 12 soldiers and one civilian at Fort Hood, Tex., last year. Aulaqi is not believed to have helped plan the attack, although he praised Hasan in an online post- ing for carrying it out. Concern grew about the cleric’s

role after he was linked to the Ni- gerian accused of attempting to bomb a U.S. airliner on Christmas

Day by detonating an explosive device he had smuggled in his underwear. Aulaqi acknowledged teaching and corresponding with the Nigerian but denied ordering the attack. The CIA is known to have car- ried out at least one Predator strike in Yemen. A U.S. citizen, Kamal Derwish, was among six alleged al-Qaeda operatives killed in that 2002 operation but was not the target.

millergreg@washpost.com

1980s 1990s

Current conflict

In 2007, the rebels abandoned the goal of Chechen independence and declared jihad to establish a pan-ethnic Caucasus Emirate across the region. The insurgency has evolved, picking up Muslim followers in neighboring Ingushetia and Dagestan angered by the sometimes brutal tactics of the Russian security forces.

Moscow

UKRAINE BEL.

400

RUSSIA

KAZAKHSTAN

2000s

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2010

JADSON MARQUES/ASSOCIATED PRESS

BRAZIL

Eleven inches of rain fell in less than 24 hours, causing floods and landslides that killed at least 95 people in Rio de Janeiro state.

Mumbai gunmen secretly buried,

official says: Bodies of nine of the 10 Pakistani gunmen from the 2008 Mumbai attacks were bur- ied in a secret location in January after Muslim clerics in the city re- fused them burial, a top state offi- cial said. The trial of the suspect- ed lone surviving gunman ended last week; a verdict is expected May 3.

Thousands protest in Kyrgyz-

stan: Protesters angry over rising energy prices stormed an office and held a governor hostage in Kyrgyzstan, sparking clashes with police and plans for further demonstrations. Tuesday’s pro- test broke out in Talas, a town of 30,000 people west of the capital, Bishkek.

— From news services

KABARDIN0- BALKARIA

KABARDIN0- BALKARIA

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