Sightings of IMU Militants Reported in Remote Area of Uzbekistan

Residents in remote areas of Uzbekistan's southern Surkhandarya Province have reported sightings of armed individuals, believed to be members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. The sightings coincide with statements by an official in neighboring Kyrgyzstan that the Islamic militant group has received upwards of $400,000 in funding so far this year from international terrorist networks.

Kyrgyz security official Tokon Mamytov said July 2 that the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) had regrouped after suffering serious losses during the US-led anti-terrorism blitz in Afghanistan and was now busy infiltrating militants into Central Asian states with the intent of carrying out terrorist operations. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. According to an Interfax news agency report, Mamytov also warned that the IMU was seeking to meld various militant groups active in Central Asia, including Uighur separatists, into a united Islamic Movement of Turkestan.

Mamytov provided little information to substantiate the claim that the IMU had obtained financial aid from an international terrorist organization, adding that Central Asian security officials were still trying to trace the source of the funds.

On July 4, Kyrgyz officials announced the discovery of a large arms cache, supposedly belonging to Islamic militants, in the southern Batken region, the Vecherny Bishkek web site reported. In addition to arms and munitions, authorities reportedly found terrorist training manuals and radical Islamic literature.

A recent visit by a EurasiaNet correspondent to Uzbekistan's Surkhandarya Province lends credence to claims that IMU militants are active in the region. Local villagers say they have often seen armed men hiding in the province's mountainous areas.

The area where the sightings have occurred is the same that witnessed armed clashes in 2000, when IMU fighters last staged a raid in Uzbek territory. According to local residents, this time, unlike in 2000, the fighters have not attempted to establish contact with them.

Initially, local residents were reluctant to discuss the latest sightings with EurasiaNet, a reflection of the state of quasi-martial law that authorities introduced after the 2000 IMU raid, and which remains in effect. Under the tight security conditions, authorities are quick to detain any villager suspected of somehow aiding and abetting the Islamic militants. In the aftermath of the 2000 incursion, Uzbek special services arrested roughly 100 men in the areas adjacent to battle sites. Many were subsequently convicted for alleged ties to the IMU, villagers say.

Nevertheless, when talking in private, several local residents told EurasiaNet that the presence of IMU fighters in local mountains is not a secret for anyone in the area.

"I myself saw them twice – once at sunset and once early morning of the next day," a local shepherd said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "When I saw them at sunset, I could not see them well and I did not realize they were terrorists. I shouted to them to come down and share bread with me, but, surprisingly, it [the invitation] caused them to flee. I saw them again the next morning. They were climbing a nearby mountain very close to me, so I could see them well enough. They were dressed in tatters and had weapons with them. This is where I realized they were terrorists."

An informed source in the district center of Denau said local law enforcement officers on several occasions have spotted suspected IMU militants. Neither the local government nor law enforcement agencies would confirm the sightings, however. The source insisted that the mayor of Denau had attempted to coordinate an operation aimed at rooting out the IMU fighters, but the mission never commenced due in part to the reluctance of local law enforcement agencies to act without guidance from Tashkent.

One law enforcement agent with knowledge of the situation explained that local agencies asked Tashkent for approval to carry out a security sweep. The plan stalled, however, when officials could not locate accurate maps of minefields in the area, and were unable to provide other logistical data that would facilitate the operation.

It remains unclear whether the suspected IMU militants in Surkhandarya have arrived recently, or have been in the area since 2000. In the 2000 raid, an estimated 100 well-trained and heavily armed IMU members were active in this region of Surkhandarya. Witnesses say that it took several thousand Uzbek soldiers from some of the military's best-equipped units to restore a sense of security in the area three summers ago. As part of its counter-insurgency strategy, Uzbek forces sowed wide areas with landmines.

Some believe that those recently sighted are IMU members who participated in the 2000 operation. The fact that many witnesses report seeing the suspected IMU militants dressed in well-worn clothing appears to support this possibility. "The IMU fighters are trapped in the area like rabbits: they are scared to leave their limited un-mined areas," one local resident said.

Meanwhile, Otamurza Olimbekov, a Tashkent-based expert in Islamic terrorism and radicalism, contends that the fighters are likely not holdouts from the raid of 2000. He suggests it is more likely that the latest sightings are of those either who have recently arrived in the area, or who possibly reside in the area themselves. To support his contention, he pointed to inconsistencies concerning the official account of the 2000 raid.

"The official version is that, in 2000, the IMU fighters penetrated the area shortly before the skirmishes," Olimbekov said. "However, facts testify against this version."

"The amount of weapons hidden in weapon caches in the mountains was enough for a whole army. Some 70-80 fighters could not have brought all those weapons at once. It took time," Olimbekov added. "Apparently, before the skirmish of 2000, the fighters had spent months and months in the area unnoticed by Uzbek special services, which is probably the case right now too."