Akhmed Yevloyev

Who is Akhmed Yevloyev?

Ali Musaevich Taziev, also known as Akhmed Yevloev, Magomet Yevloyev, and Emir Magas, is the former leader of both the Ingushetia-based Ingush Jamaat as well as the military wing of the Caucasus Emirate. On September 30, 2006, Taziev was appointed to the post of commander of the Caucasian Front by the orders of Dokka Umarov. In July 2007, one year after Shamil Basayev’s death, Taziev became his official successor as the most high-ranking military commander in the rebel forces. He is believed to be personally responsible for the death of several local high-ranking security officials.

Taziev is an ethnic Ingush who was raised in Grozny, Chechnya. He participated in the First Chechen War. After the conclusion of the First Chechen War he returned to Ingushetia and entered the police. There he was promoted to the Ingush Interior Ministry Police forces where he attained the rank of Captain. At the start of the Second Chechen War he returned to Chechnya and became a sub-commander under Shamil Basayev before Basayev assigned him to use his family and clan ties to begin raising armed groups in Ingushetia. In this position, he was among the commanders of the 2004 Nazran raid in which simultaneous nationwide raids on police stations killed over 70 security personnel in the capital Nazran; according to the Russian Federal Security Service, during the attack Taziev personally killed the acting Ingush Interior Minister Abubakar Kostoyev.