
The United Vilayat of Kabarda, Balkaria and Karachay (Vilayat KBK), formerly known as Yarmuk Jamaat, was a militant jihadist organization that operated in the northern Caucasus region of Russia from July 2002. The group was founded under the name "Yarmuk Jamaat", referring to the Muslim victory at the Battle of Yarmouk in 636, and it drew most of its early members from the Balkars; it later attracted Kabardians, Karachays, and ethnic Russians to its ranks. Yarmuk Jamaat was responsible for several attacks on local and federal security forces in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, as it sought to create an Islamic state in those lands. On 7 October 2007, it merged into the Caucasus Emirate as its vilayat ("province") for Kabarda, Balkaria, and Karachay, but it had no more than 50 active fighters in 2010. In 2015, the group joined Vilayat Kavkaz.