Islamic State – Azerbaijan Province

Islamic State – Azerbaijan Province (IS-AP, Arabic: الدولة الإسلامية – ولاية أذربيجان, romanized: al-Dawlah al-Islāmīyah – Wilāyat Adharbayjān, Azerbaijani: İslam Dövləti – Azərbaycan vilayəti) is a branch of the Islamic State that emerged in 2019, based in Azerbaijan. In September 2024, ISAP claimed its first attack, targeting Azerbaijani security forces.

Islamic State – Azerbaijan Province
Arabic: الدولة الإسلامية – ولاية أذربيجان Azerbaijani: İslam Dövləti – Azərbaycan vilayəti
Dates of operation	July 2019–Present
Country	Azerbaijan
Allegiance	Islamic State
Ideology	Islamic Statism
Opponents	Azerbaijan  Turkey  Armenia  Russia  Iran  United States Islamic Resistance Movement of Azerbaijan Al-Qaeda

History

The group was established in July 2019 after multiples members gave bay'ah to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in a video released by the official Islamic State media that announced its establishment.^[1] The video was released by the Islamic State – Turkey Province. Before July 2019, the Azerbaijan Province was not official and consisted of unorganized cells.^[2] Supporters of the Islamic State in Azerbaijan were also supported by Boko Haram during its time in 2014 after it pledged allegiance to the Islamic State with the leader Abubakar Shekau calling them "brethren".^[3] The organization was originally associated with both the Islamic State – Caucasus Province and Islamic State – Khorasan Province where members and supporters from Azerbaijan were recruited to there.^[4] Azerbaijan Province is considered one of the main 14 distant provinces outside of the original Islamic State territorial areas of Iraq and Syria.^[5]

On September 15, 2024, An Islamic State Militant was killed in Azerbaijan. On September 19, 2024, the Islamic State announced its inaugural attack in Azerbaijan through its weekly publication, Al-Naba. In the announcement, the group asserted that it had killed seven Azerbaijani security personnel and injured one during a confrontation that took place five days earlier in the Qusar district, located in northern Azerbaijan.^[6]