During the late 1990s, the area became a regional center of Salafism and had de facto independence, before military operations in September 1999 brought it back under the control of the Russian state.
[5] In December 2014, a video clip of Asildarov was posted online, in which he retracted his oath of allegiance to Umarov's successor, Aliaskhab Kebekov, and pledged loyalty to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Kebekov responded days later with a video, in which he condemned Asildarov's "betrayal" and appointed Kamil Saidov as the new leader of Vilayat Dagestan.
[1][6] In an audio statement on 23 June 2015, IS's spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani accepted pledges of allegiance to the group made by North Caucasus militants, and announced the creation of a new Wilayat or Province covering the region.
[9] On 3 December 2016, the FSB announced that Asildarov and four close associates had been killed in an anti-terror raid near Makhachkala, Dagestan.