A command center and a communication hub have been destroyed and 40 militants of the Islamic State terror group were killed near the city of Deir ez-Zor, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/. Russian aircraft have delivered airstrikes near the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, destroying a militant command center and a communication hub, and eliminating four important field commanders, including IS “minister of war” Gulmurod Khalimov, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“As a result of a precision airstrike carried out by Russian warplanes near the city of Deir ez-Zor, a command center and a communication hub have been destroyed, while around 40 militants of the Islamic State terror group were killed,” the statement reads. “It has been confirmed that there are four important field commanders among the eliminated militants, including the so-called ‘Emir of Deir ez-Zor’ Abu Muhammad al-Shimali, who was responsible for financial affairs and the transfer of recruits to the IS training camps. It has also been established that the so-called ‘minister of war’ of the Islamic State terror group, Gulmurod Khalimov, was present at the meeting and died of fatal wounds”, the Russian Defense Ministry added. Khalimov was a former commander of the Tajik Interior Ministry’s special forces. In May 2015, together with six of his soldiers, he joined the IS. After Abu Omar al-Shishani was killed, Khalimov became the IS minister of war.
