Uzbekistan Security Chief, Others Fired After Attempted Assassination of Komil Allamjonov
Abdusalom Azizov
By Exec Edge Editorial Staff
Abdusalom Azizov, head of Uzbekistan's national security agency, was fired by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev during an emergency Cabinet meeting Friday night in Tashkent, Radio Free Europe/Radio Libertyand Uzbekistan media reported. A number of other high-ranking government officials, including Alijon Ashurov, head of the State Security Service, were also fired for obstructing the investigation into the escalating scandal, RFE/RL reported.
The shooting comes nearly a month after the failed assassination attempt on Komil Allamjonov, the president's press secretary, who left the government in September. Since the incident occurred, four suspects have been arrested, but the fifth has fled to South Korea, where he has so far eluded Korean and Uzbek authorities.
Neither government has released an update on the investigation or provided a motive, raising global scrutiny and pressure on Uzbekistani and South Korean authorities.
Observers in Uzbekistan think that Azizov's dismissal is related to the assassination attempt.
The attempt on Allamjonov's life pulled back the curtain on the interconnected nature of the highest levels of Uzbek government and society, past and present, as journalists sought to unravel the Byzantine story.
In the office, Allamjonov worked closely with Saida Mirziyoyev, the president's eldest daughter and No. 2 in the government. The media reported a disagreement between Allamjonov and Otabek Umarov, the president's deputy head of security and the husband of his youngest daughter, Shahnoza.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports that Umarov left Uzbekistan today, although his motives are unknown.
Following the assassination attempt, the two gunmen briefly fled to a nightclub in eastern Uzbekistan owned by the daughters of the late Vitaly Fen, Uzbekistan's ambassador to South Korea, who died in June. A fifth suspect in the attack, Javlon Yunusov, is the husband of one of the nightclub owners and fled to South Korea in the hours following Allamjonov's attack.
Azizov, 64, a veteran at the highest levels of Uzbekistan's administration, had been head of the State Security Service for five years. Prior to that, he was the Minister of Defense for two years and served briefly as the Minister of the Interior before that. In 2019, Azizov received the military title of lieutenant general and was appointed chairman of the National Security Council shortly thereafter. He also served as president of the Football Association of Uzbekistan. A security official, Azizov was the head of Internal Affairs in Tashkent and headed the Interior Ministry in Uzbekistan's Jizzakh region, west of Tashkent, before serving in Mirziyoyev's government.
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