On 14 September 2024, clashes between militants and Azerbaijani security forces arose in Qusar District, northern Azerbaijan, after security forces stumbled upon a militant hideout. The clashes left 7 security personnel dead and 1 injured; an IS militant was also killed. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack 5 days later, via its weekly Al-Naba newsletter, making it the group's first attack in the country.[1][2]
| 2024 Qusar attack | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of spillover of the Islamic State insurgency in the North Caucasus | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Azerbaijan |
 Islamic State | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 7 security forces killed, 1 injured | 1 IS militant killed | ||||||
Background
editOn 2 July 2019, as part of a series of videos ("And The [Best] Outcome Is For The Righteous") showing supporters and fighters of IS around the world renewing their pledge of allegiance to IS, a video was published from Azerbaijan featuring three fighters armed with Kalashnikov style rifles pledging their allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The video was formally released by IS, without explicitly referring it as a Wilayah.[3]
4 months later, after al-Baghdadi's death on 27 October 2019, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi received pledges of allegiance (bayah) from various provinces and regions, with photos of fighters from Azerbaijan pledging allegiance to him, on 29 November.[4] However, they had never claimed responsibility for an attack in Azerbaijan prior to the attack.
References
edit- ^ "Backgrounder on The Islamic State and Jihadism in Azerbaijan".
- ^ "In First Recorded Fighting Activity in Azerbaijan, IS Reports Clash in Qusar District Inflicting 8 Casualties". SITE. 19 September 2024.
- ^ "New video message from the Islamic State: "And the [Best] Outcome is for the Righteous – Azerbaijan"".
- ^ "The Islamic State's Bayat Campaign". jihadology.net. Archived from the original on 21 December 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
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