 He has refrained from attacking civilians and instead targeted strictly police and military targets, as well as government officials and politicians across the poverty-stricken republic of Dagestan.After former Chechen President Sheikh Abdul-Halim opened up the Caucasian Front to spread the insurgency across the entire North Caucasus region of Russia, it is thought that Khalilov came under the authority of the Chechen rebels.This was confirmed when in a September 2006 decree, Doku Umarov, the successor to Abdul-Halim Sadulayev named Khalilov as a Brigadier General and made him as the commander of the Dagestan front.