Aslan Avgazarovich Byutukayev (22 October 1974-20 January 2021), also known as Emir Khamzat, was Emir of Vilayat Kavkaz from 3 December 2016 to 20 January 2021, succeeding Rustam Asildarov.
Biography[]
Aslan Avgazarovich Byutukayev was born in Achkhoy-Martan, Chechen-Ingush ASSR, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union on 22 October 1974 to a Chechen family. He became a commander of the Caucasus Emirate and a close associate of Dokka Umarov, and he became commander of Chechnya's Southwestern Front in 2010 during the Insurgency in the North Caucasus. Byutukayev also succeeded Said Buryatsky as commander of the Riyad-us Saliheen Brigade of Martyrs, the Caucasus Emirate's suicide bomber unit. In 2011, he was responsible for the Domodedovo International Airport bombing, and, in March 2011, it was falsely reported that he had been killed in a Russian Air Force strike. In June 2015, following Aliaskhab Kebekov's death, Byutukayev swore allegiance to ISIL and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and he may have taken over Vilayat Kavkaz on Rustam Asildarov's death in 2016. However, it was reported that he had been hiding in Turkey. On 20 January 2021, he and five other Chechen militants were killed in a shootout with government forces in Katyr-Yurt, Chechnya.