Abu Omar al-Turkistani

Abu Omar al-Turkistani
Abu Omar al-Turkistani in Afghanistan
Born	Somewhere in Xinjiang, China
Died	1 January 2017 Sarmada, Syria
Allegiance	al-Qaeda (c. 2000–17) Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) (2011–15) Al-Nusra Front Ansar Jihad (2015–17) Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria (2015–17)
Years of service	c. 2000–2017
Rank	IJU commander (until 2015) Leader of Ansar Jihad Leading TIP commander in Syria
Battles/wars	War on Terror War in Afghanistan (2001–2014) Battle of Tora Bora War in Afghanistan (2015–present) Syrian Civil War Battle of Aleppo (2012–16) Aleppo offensive (October–November 2016) 2015–16 Latakia offensive American-led intervention in Syria †

al-Qaeda (c. 2000–17)

War on Terror

Abu Omar al-Turkistani (died 1 January 2017) was a high-ranking commander for several al-Qaeda-affilated groups, such as the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), the Al-Nusra Front, and the Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria (TIP). Active as a militant since at least 2001, al-Turkistani fought in both the War in Afghanistan and the Syrian Civil War. By late 2016, he was considered to be "one of top ten leading 'jihadists' in Syria", and one of the "four most prominent leaders" of TIP. Shortly before his death, al-Turkistani helped to facilitate the merger of many Islamist rebel groups into Tahrir al-Sham. He was eventually killed by an American drone strike on 1 January 2017.

Most of Abu Omar al-Turkistani's early life, including his birth name, is unknown. An ethnic Uyghur, he originally lived in Xinjiang, China, but migrated to Afganistan and joined al-Qaeda sometime before the US invasion in 2001. When United States-led forces attacked Osama bin Laden's stronghold at Tora Bora, al-Turkistani was among the local defenders; after the battle's end, he fled to Pakistan, where he was arrested and jailed by the Inter-Services Intelligence until around 2011.