ISS: Abdurrahman Sazanakov who left Estonia to join extremists died in Syria

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Abdurrahman Sazanakov.
Abdurrahman Sazanakov. Photo: Facebook

The Estonian Internal Security Service (ISS) said that according to their information, Abdurrahman Sazanakov, who in 2013 left Estonia to fight in Syria, died there a few years ago.

Arnold Sinisalu, director general of the ISS, told journalists on Friday that according to the authority's information, Abdurrahman Sazanakov has died with a likelihood of 99 percent.

«There is of course the possibility that there is ongoing hiding and concealing from us. For understandable reasons, we cannot go there to dig up the remains and take a DNA sample. We more or less know the area of the grave. But this is an area of warfare, we cannot go there,» Sinisalu said.

He specified that, according to the ISS, Sazanakov died in Syria a few years ago and his grave is located around the Syria-Iraq border area.

Sazanakov, who was born and raised in the Tallinn borough of Lasnamae, assumed the name Abdurrahman Azan after radicalization. In 2013, Sazanakov traveled to Syria and joined Islamic extremists.

The man was accompanied to Syria by his wife Lolita along with two children, who are Estonian citizens. Sinisalu said that two more children were born into the family in Syria.

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