On Friday, August 23, four inmates took several guards and other inmates hostage at Correctional Colony No. 19 in Surovikino, Volgograd Region. The hostage-takers killed 8 people, but after a few hours, all four attackers were killed in an operation by Russian security forces.
Daesh claimed responsibility for this incident in the latest issue of its weekly magazine Al-Naba and referred to the attackers as “Mujahideen.” However, the individuals in Volgograd, similar to the attackers in the Crocus Hall incident in Moscow, had been arrested and imprisoned for engaging in illegal activities.
The perpetrators of the Volgograd incident have been identified as Rustamchon Navruzi, Nazirchon Toshov, Shobdulkarimkhon Karimov, and Shokhijahon Sayfiev. The first three are from Tajikistan, while the last one is from Uzbekistan.
RFE/RL’s Tajik branch interviewed Navruzi’s father, Rustam Jan, in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Rustam Jan informed the radio that his son was not a religious individual and had no inclination towards religious matters.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that Navruzi arrived in Russia at the age of 23 in 2019 and was subsequently sentenced to seven years in prison in 2022 for drug trafficking.
Navruzi’s friend, Nazirchon Toshov, also from Tajikistan, faced arrest for drug trafficking. According to Russian sources, the Kazakh news outlet Arbat disclosed that Toshov was apprehended in February 2021 with one and a half kilograms of heroin, which he intended to transport to another location. He received an eight-and-a-half-year prison sentence from the court in October 2022.
Shobdulkarimkhon is reported to have orchestrated the hostage-taking operation in the prison. Russian TV channel RT stated that he was arrested in April 2019 while selling drugs with his brother and was subsequently sentenced to eight years in prison. Shah Abdul Karim Khan was deeply involved in sports and provided guidance on how to achieve wealth on the social network VK.
As per Uzbek migrant media, the fourth individual, Shokhijahon, is a citizen of Uzbekistan who, along with two other Uzbeks, was apprehended for drug distribution in 2022.
Daesh also acknowledges the dark past of its “Mujahideen”:
In the pages of the weekly magazine Al-Naba, which claimed responsibility for the Volgograd incident, it is mentioned that their “Mujahideen” repented after undergoing a transformation in prison. The Kharijites acknowledged that individuals lacking religious awareness and a distorted understanding of jihad, along with a history of delinquency, are susceptible to falling into their trap. this issue will inevitably come to light at some point. Therefore, in order to evade disgrace, they highlighted the importance of repentance. The question that arises is why individuals with a tarnished past, such as the “Mujahideen” of Volgograd and Crocus, who possess limited knowledge of Islam and jihad, are drawn to the Kharijites.
