Akhmed Chatayev (14 July 1980 – 22 November 2017) was a Chechen Islamic State leader who masterminded the 2016 Istanbul Ataturk Airport attack. Chatayev had a reputation as an Islamist before he joined IS; he was involved in al-Qaeda clashes with the Georgian Army in Lopota Gorge, Georgia in August 2012, but he was acquitted of hs crime. He died on 22 November 2017 in Tblisi, Georgia during a counter-terror raid.
Biography[]
Abu Jihad Ingushi and Akhmed Chatayev, 25 February 2015
Akhmed Chatayev was an ethnic Chechen who was granted refugee status in Austria before moving to the Pankisi Gorge of Georgia, and he later became a jihadist. In September 2012, he was arrested in the Lopota Gorge of Georgia after taking part in clashes with the Georgian Army that left 11 jihadists and three Georgian soldiers dead, but he was released on bail in December and released in January 2013. Chatayev was believed to be heading to Austria next, but he instead headed to Syria, where he became the commander of the Yarmouk Battalion of the Islamic State during the Syrian Civil War. He appeared in a video with IS leader Abu Jihad Ingushi in which he welcomed fighters from the North Caucasus to the Islamic State, and he rejoiced when he heard that almost every jihadist in Dagestan pledged allegiance to ISIS. Chatayev was added to the United States' counter-terror sanctions list as a result of his jihadist activities, and he was believed to have been the mastermind behind the 28 June 2016 Istanbul Ataturk Airport attack, which left 44 people dead and 239 injured.
On 20 November 2017, the Georgian State Security Service launched a counter terrorism operation in Tbilisi to take down Chatayev. One Georgian special forces serviceman and three armed terrorists were killed, while Chatayev blew himself up.