Gaziyev was born on 11 November 1965 in the small village of Pozh-Poroy in the mountainous Itum-Kale district of the former Chechen–Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.[1] During the Second Chechen War, Gaziyev held a number of top military positions in Chechnya's armed underground resistance, commanding a squad of several dozen militants that operated mainly in the Achkoi-Martan district.[1]