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Izz-al-Din, Hasan (1963– )———187

The group’s heavy recruitment in Central Asia
ISLAMIC MOVEMENT OF suggests that it aims to “liberate” the whole of Central
UZBEKISTAN Asia, not only Uzbekistan. Although the overthrow of
the Uzbek government remains its priority, should the
aka Islamic Party of Turkestan
IMU prevail in Uzbekistan and go on to conquer parts
of the Fergana Valley, Central Asia could experience
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) is a
an Islamic domino effect.
coalition of fundamentalist Islamic militants from
By designating itself a “party,” the group may hope
Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries that
to gain political recognition and integrate into
oppose Uzbek President Islom Karimov’s secular
regional governments. Several countries—Russia, the
government and that work to establish an Islamic
United States, China—have provided military aid,
theocracy.
intelligence, and advice to Uzbekistan in its fight
Founded in 1999, the IMU seeks to destabilize the
against the spread of the IMU.
country and the region; although not the only group to
oppose the current government of Uzbekistan, it is the Further Reading
only group that has resorted to terrorism to achieve
Ahmed, Rashid. “Interview With Leader of Hizb-e Tahrir.”
its goals. The change of name to the Islamic Party of
Central Asia Caucasus Analyst: Biweekly Briefing.
Turkestan in June 2001 may signal an expansion of
http://www.cacianalyst.org/Nov_22_2000/Interview.ht
the original goal of establishing an Islamic state in
m, October 1, 2001.
Uzbekistan to the creation of Islamic states through-
Ahmed, Rashid. Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central
out Central Asia.
Asia. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002.
The IMU has conducted only small-scale armed “Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan Controls Drug Traffic
attacks—car bombings and hostage taking—and to Central Asia, Special Services Say.” Pravda, http://
initially operated only in the Fergana Valley on the english.pravda.ru/cis/2001/05/30/6301.html.
Uzbek/Kyrgyz border; the IMU is now active in
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and throughout Uzbekistan.
IMU members have been known to carry out their ISLAMIC RESISTANCE MOVEMENT.
attacks in the open, withdrawing to villages and dis- See HAMAS.
guising themselves as locals rather than retreating to
the mountains following an attack. The group is con-
sidered responsible for at least five car bombings in
Uzbekistan in February 1999 and a number of hostage IZZ-AL-DIN, HASAN (1963– )
takings in 1999 and 2000. Among those taken hostage
aka Ahmed Garbaya, Samir Salwwan, Sa-id
were four U.S. mountain climbers, four Japanese geol-
ogists, and eight Kyrgyzstani soldiers.
In November 2000, Uzbek courts sentenced IMU For his alleged role in the 1985 hijacking of TWA
leaders Tahir Yuldashev and Juma Namangani to death Flight 847, Lebanese Hasan Izz-al-Din is named on
in absentia for the February 1999 bombings. Both the FBI’s October 2001 list of the 22 “most wanted
Yuldashev and Namangani had fled the country in terrorists.” A hijacker convicted in the TWA case tes-
1999 for Afghanistan, where they recruited and tified that Izz-al-Din killed a U.S. Navy diver during
trained militants under shelter of the Taliban. Security the two-week ordeal.
officials now believe that the IMU controls the drug The FBI believes Izz-al-Din has returned to
trade between Afghanistan and Central Asia, using the Lebanon. Although he was tied to the Shiite Muslim
profits to finance its operations. militant group and political party Hezbollah during
The IMU has expanded rapidly; IMU forces the 1980s, Lebanese officials have claimed that
may now be significantly concentrated—even have Izz-al-Din is not currently linked to Hezbollah’s party
military bases—in Tajikistan and Afghanistan, and the structure. (Although the U.S. government continues
group may have been aided by Al Qaeda, the Taliban, to regard Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, the
and Osama bin Laden. The group also receives sup- group recast itself as a legitimate political party
port from other fundamentalist Islamist groups during the 1990s and holds elected seats in Lebanon’s
throughout Central and South Asia. Parliament.)