Islamic State Groups Growing North Caucasus Contingent NotJust Chechens'
All that is known about Islamic State militant Abu Usama Daghestani is how and when he died and what he looked like just before. Even basic details -- his real name, where he came from in Daghestan, his age -- are all unknown. On June 13, Abu Usama blew himself up near the barracks of Iraqi security forces in Baiji, one of a deadly team of seven IS suicide bombers. His real identity is a mystery. But Abu Usama is one of several North Caucasian militants -- exact figures are unknown -- to have been killed in Baiji recently. He is also one of a growing number of IS militants from the North Caucasus republics of Daghestan, Ingushetia, and Karachai-Cherkessia. Though Russian-speaking militants in Syria and Iraq are usually lumped together as "Chechens," IS's increasingly powerful North Caucasian contingent is becoming more and more diverse. The rise in the number of North Caucasians fighting alongside IS comes at the militant group's North Caucasian fa