terrorism in Kazakhstan

Terrorism in Kazakhstan plays an increasingly important role in determining its foreign policy. The Kazakh government's cooperation with the West in counter-terrorism efforts in Central Asia, led by the United States Government, have brought bilateral relations between the two nations to an all time high.

However, Vyacheslav Kasymov, Director of the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-terrorist Center of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, has accused the Kazakh government of giving refuge to terrorist organizations, an accusation the Kazakh Foreign Ministry denies. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Human Rights Watch have criticized the Nazarbayev administration's policy of transferring terrorist suspects to neighboring countries, specifically Uzbekistan, where HRW says suspects face torture.

Organizations

On 12 October 2006 the Supreme Court approved a revised list of banned terrorist organizations and the Prosecutor General released the list. The terrorist organizations the government has banned are the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami, Jamaat of Central Asian Mujahedins, Islamic Party of Eastern Turkestan, Kurdistan Workers Party, Boz Kurt, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Social Reforms Society (in Kuwait), Asbat an-Ansar (in Israel), Al-Qaeda, Taliban, and the Muslim Brotherhood. When the Supreme Court initially added the JCMA and six other organizations to its list in March 2006, critics claimed that the Muslim Brotherhood and Lashkar-e-Toiba do not operate in Kazakhstan on a level sufficient to justify inclusion in the list. Saulebek Zhamkenuly, press secretary for the Prosecutor-General's Office, said, "It doesn't mean all these organizations are active in Kazakhstan. The decision to ban them is a preventive measure. These organizations are considered as terrorist in the Russian Federation, the United States, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan."

The Supreme Court added Aum Shinrikyo and the East Turkestan Liberation Organization to the list of banned terrorist organizations on 17 November 2006. Both organizations have members in Kazakhstan.

Ties between designated terrorist organizations

Hizb-ut-Tahrir is banned in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyz government banned HuT after it declared a jihad against Kyrgyz police on 19 July 2006. Uzbek President Islam Karimov had twice called on the Kyrgyz Government to shutdown HuT activities in Kyrgyzstan before the government added it to their list of banned organizations. Kyrgyz and Uzbek government officials say that there are ties between Hizb-ut-Tahrir, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and the radical Islamic group Akramiya. Kazakh Prosecutor-General Rashid Tusupbekov asked the Astana City Court to ban HuT because of its terrorist activities on 16 March 2005. Press secretary Zhamkenuly said it is "very probable that Hizb ut-Tahrir has connections with the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and other extremist groups. Therefore, under the Kazakh law banning extremism, we have every reason to outlaw Hizb ut-Tahrir's activities on Kazakh territory."

Aum Shinrikyo and East Turkestan Liberation Organization

Askar Amerkhanov, deputy chief of staff of Kazakhstan's counterterrorism center, asked the Prosecutor-General's Office and the Supreme Court to add Aum Shinrikyo and the East Turkestan Liberation Organization to the list of banned terrorist organizations on 15 September 2006. Amerkhanov said the KNB prevented an Aum Shinrikyo cell from forming in Qizilorda.

The Supeme Court added both organizations to the list on 17 November 2006.

Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan

From 28 March-1 April 2004 two suicide bombers set off bombs in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The bombings killed 47 people, 33 of whom were terrorists and 14 were bystanders and policemen. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Islamic Jihad claimed responibility. Uzbek President Islam Karimov claimed the perpetrators were ex-members of Hizb-ut-Tahrir.

The Uzbek security service's intelligence, according to Pravda, proves the involvement of Jamaat of Central Asian Mujahedins members. Tashkent police found a mobile phone used by the terrorists at the site of one of the bombings. The police later found that the terrorists had called associates in Kazakhstan. Police from both nations agreed to work together in investigating the bombing.

According to Tanya Costello, an analyst for Eurasia Group, the IMU has been nearly destroyed by the counter-terrorism efforts of the U.S., Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.

Hamas

The Union of Muslims of Kazakhstan invited Hamas leaders to Kazakhstan in 2006.

Hizb-ut-Tahrir

Hizb-ut-Tahrir first appeared in Kazakhstan in the south in the 1990s. Beibut Saparaly, a cleric at the Astana-based Kaganat religious education center, said in March 2005 that the "idea to create a caliphate is supported by many youth. Some years ago, we heard that [Hizb ut-Tahrir] had support in Shymkent and in Pavlodar. But lately, particularly after Qurban-Ayt, we learned that [Hizb ut-Tahrir] leaflets had been distributed in all mosques in the southern capital of Almaty." Kazakh police have arrested HuT members in southern Kazakhstan for several years, but the first arrests of members in northern Kazakhstan were in 2004. Novoye Pokoleniye has attributed the popularity of Hizb-ut-Tahrir to the sociocial and economic conditions of the populace. One journalist wrote that illiteracy, poverty, and the "proximity of trouble spots allow various types of 'teachers' to act very freely there." Additionally, as "one head cell is cut off," it is "replaced by several new ones." The Kazakh government found the first Hizb-ut-Tahrir terror cell in Kentai in 2000. The HuT presence in Kazakhstan then spread in the country, primarily in southern Kazakhstan. Rashid Tusupbekov, the Prosecutor General, asked the Supreme Court to add Hizb ut-Tahrir to the list of banned terrorist organizations on 17 March 2005, citing its ties to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

On 5 February 2005 police in Kentai, Kazakhstan found Hizb-ut-Tahrir books and leaflets in the attic of a resident's home. The books were written in Uzbek, Russian, and Kazakh. Police charged the resident with distributing extremist literature and encouraging religious strife. According to Marat Yermukanov of Eurasia Daily Monitor, "reports say" the resident "bought these publications at the market... to distribute the teachings of Hizb-ut-Tahrir" in Kentai. Kentai is "fertile ground" for Hizb-ut-Tahrir because of the poor economy and the government's "indifference to their woes." Yermukanov said that most police raids targeted HuT cells.

Three days later, on 8 February, Almaty police shut down an HuT printing facility, taking 12,400 leaflets and 53 booklets from an apartment building.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta interviewed Vyacheslav Kasymov, Director of the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-terrorist Center of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and published the interview on 7 February. In the interview Kasymov accused the Kazakh Government of giving refuge to terrorist organizations, specifically Saudi Binladin Group, which operated in Astana. In November 2004 the Supreme Court ruled against the company's claim to 700 hectares of land in Astana. The Kazakh Foreign Ministry issued a statement two days later, on 9 February, calling Kasymov's statements "absolutely incompatible with the status of a head of the structure of a large international organization and casts a shadow of doubt on the reputation and position of the SCO in the contemporary world." The statement noted the Kazakh government has signed 12 UN anti-terrorist conventions. The Kazakh Foreign Ministry has since characterized Kasymov's comments as "inappropriate" and "totally deprived of the spirit of the basic documents of [the Shanghai Cooperation Organization]" because "There weren’t and there are not any terrorists' bases or camps on the soil of Kazakhstan."

Beksultan Sarsenov, first deputy head of the CIS Anti-Terrorist Center, said Hizb-ut-Tahrir and Uyghur nationalists were the greatest threats to Kazakhstan's security. Sarsenov said that a "small group" of religious bigots and nationalists "think the country is only for Kazakhs" and "nationalist Russians who are convinced that they have the right to certain part of Kazakhstan's territory" threaten Kazakhstan.

In the spring and summer of 2004 bombings in Uzbekistan killed more than 50 people. The Uzbek Government attributed the bombings to HuT terrorists. Suspects charged for the bombings said trained at a terrorist camp in Kazakhstan. The Kazakh Government denied the allegation, but conceded that the defendants had at one point lived in the Shymkent Oblast, which they reached by crossing the border illegaly.

In December 2005 the KNB extradited Rustam Chagilov, a suspected terrorist, to Russia. KNB officials detained an ethnic Uzbek and alleged member of HuT in Taraz, South Kazakhstan in April 2006. The KNB accused him of organizing an HuT cell Qoqon, Uzbekistan and extradited him to Uzbekistan.

Kenzhenbulat Beknazarov, spokesman for the KNB announced on 22 December 2006 in Astana that an HuT cell-network active in multiple towns had been shutdown. Beknazarov said, "Computers, more than 25,000 pamphlets, some 70 copies of religious extremist books and advanced printing equipment were confiscated during our searches." Routes used to smuggle in extremist literature and foreign funding were also shutdown.

Jamaat of Central Asian Mujahedins

In 2004 National Security Committee (KNB) officials claimed they had shutdown the Jamaat of Central Asian Mujahedins. However, in 2006, they again claimed to have foiled a terrorist plot orchestrated by JCAM members.

2004

Vladimir Bozhko, first deputy chairman of Kazakhstan's National Security Committee (KNB), announced in a press conference on 11 November 2004 that the KNB had dismantled the Jamaat of Central Asian Mujahedins, arresting nine citizens of Kazakhstan and four of Uzbekistan. Police confiscated weapons, forged documents, a videotape of a speech given by Osama Bin Laden, and what Radio Free Europe called "extremist propaganda." Four women, trained as suicide bombers, were detained. The government discovered that JCAM recruited 50 citizens of Uzbekistan and 20 of Kazakhstan since mid-2002. JCAM is, like the IMU, affiliated with Al Qaeda.

Zhakshybek Biimurzaev, headed JCAM's operations in Kazakhstan while Ahmad Bekmirzaev, headed operations in Uzbekistan. Both served in the IMU. Biimurzaev has been arrested by Uzbek police and the National Security Service of Kyrgyzstan. Uzbek police killed Bekmirzaev in a shoot-out near Tashkent on 30 March. Biimurzaev is reported as having said, "This year there were three terror attacks in Tashkent in July. I organized them on the instruction of my amir Usman. Three Kazakh citizens took part in them. I was opposed to this, but the amir ordered it." Usman later odered Biimurzaev to assassinate what Radio Free Europe referred to as a "high-ranking Uzbek official."

Uzbek officials said Avaz Shoyusupov, a Kazakh citizen, is one of the suicide bombers who died in the 30 July attacks. Bekmirzaev's wife, Makhira Ibragimova, and Isa Eruov, Kazakh citizens, killed themselves in suicide bombing attacks in Uzbekistan in spring 2004. Police caught Aidos Usmonov, an Uzbek citizen and an aide of Biimurzaev, in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan. Usmonov had recently returned from Russia, where he allegedly recruited for JCAM. The Kazakh government extradited Uzbek terrorist suspects arrested in Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan.

Deutsche Welle and the Uzbek government reported that 15 suspects charged in relation to the Tashkent bombings were trained in terrorist camps in South Waziristan, Pakistan and in "private apartments" in Shymkent, and other cities, in Kazakhstan. Deputy Chairman Bozhko disagreed, saying "there were no camps and bases for training terrorists on the territory of our country."

2006

President Nazarbayev on 18 April, 2006 said the KNB needed to do more to protect the nation's security. Sergei Minenkov, National Security Committee member in charge of counter-terrorism, announced the day after that a KNB-Interior Ministry operation had prevented a major terrorist attack with assistance from the security services of an unnamed foreign nation and again shutdown JCAM, calling it a "criminal gang set up for terrorist activities." Some interpreted Minenkov's statements as a response to Nazarbayev's criticism.

Minenkov said the plot involved bombing the offices of security officials, government buildings, and public safety facilities. The ten suspects, who allegedly acted on instructions from a foreign nation, were charged with 'instigating religious strife' and illegal possession of firearms.

When the operation took place, JCAM members were, according to ISN Security Watch, "monitoring Kyrgyz political activities." 10 JCAM members in Almaty were arrested and police confiscated weapons and extremist books and tapes. The suspects were recruiting Kazakh citizens and establishing terror bases when they were arrested.

Minenkov said, "Foreign ideologists of terrorism recommended attacking public places and strategically important infrastructure facilities" in letters found by police. Seized documents included instructions on explosive construction and maps of targets. Serikbai Alibayev of For a Just Kazakhstan opposition coalition said, "The National Security Committee's accusation against the opposition - that it could have joined the terrorist group - is nothing less than blame based on nothing. According to our laws and the constitution, law-enforcement agencies immediately should open a case against the National Security Committee and start an investigation. They should be brought to court for saying that -- they are violating our constitution." Zauresh Battalova, also of For a Just Kazakhstan, said, "The National Security Committee is a tool in the hands of the authorities. Today, the National Security Committee is following the authorities' order to discredit those who really care about people in order to stop them. It's the National Security Committee that should be brought to justice. They have to answer for their activities, the activities of the special Arystan unit, and the deaths of Altynbek and Zamanbek. Problems cannot be solved by Dutbayev's resignation alone."

The KNB discovered and disrupted a terror cell in Stepnogorsk on 16 November. They arrested eleven Islamic terrorists, who were planning on carrying out attacks to create an Islamist republic in Central Asia. One of the terrorists shot at police officers as they broke up the cell. On 27 December the KNB broke up the "Stepnogorsk zhamaat terrorist group," confiscating weapons and literature inciting terrorism. Members of the organization were planning on robbing businesses to fund assassinations of civil servants.

In January of 2006 convicted JMCA terrorists were sentenced to prison terms ranging from eight to twenty-five years in prison.

Tablighi Jamaat

Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic missionary organization that is banned in Uzbekistan and has alleged ties to Al-Qaeda, is not considered a terrorist organization by the Government of Kazakhstan, but some members have been fined and deported for violating Kazakhstan's laws on missionary activity. Askar Amerkhanov, head of the National Security Committee Secret Police's Anti-terrorism Center, said, "It is true that at first we did have suspicions that Tabligh was an extremist organisation. But having studied its teachings we have concluded that it is simply an Islamic missionary organisation. Tabligh's problem is that its supporters are preaching without having registered with the authorities." Kairat Tulesov, deputy head of the Justice Ministry's Religious Affairs Committee, said, "Tabligh supporters simply have to observe Kazakh law and then they can pursue their activities without hindrance."

Almaty airplane bomb

An airport worker discovered a bomb in a plant in the baggage compartment of a Boeing 737 that flew from Moscow, Russia to Almaty, Kazakhstan while unloading baggage on 12 May 2005. The bomb, which at the time of discovery ticked and had wires. Security officials destroyed the package without incident.

Literature

The following literature advocating terrorism has been confiscated in Kazakhstan:

• An Open Letter to French President Jacques Chirac
• Evil Schemes of America
• Who is responsible for Tashkent blasts?

Further reading

• Ahmed Rashid. Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia, Yale University, 2002, ISBN 0-300-09345-4
• Jatin Kumar. Terrorism and Militancy in Central Asia, Gyan Books, 2004, ISBN 8-178-35322-9
• Shahram Akbarzadeh. Uzbekistan And The United States: Authoritarianism, Islamism And Washington's Security Agenda, Palgrave Macmillan, April 2005, ISBN 1-842-77423-9
• Lutz Kleveman. The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia, Grove Press, 2004, ISBN 0-8021-4172-2

See also

• Counter-terrorism in Kazakhstan
• Islamic terrorism
• Wäisi movement
• September 11, 2001 attacks
• Manas Air Base
• Karshi-Khanabad
• Camp Lajerg

External links

• Kazakhstani bids for regional antiterrorism agenda
• Rapid deployment force established in Central Asia
• U.S. legislators thank Kazakhstan for help in Terror War, Iraq
• Secretary Rumsfeld Joint Availability with the Kazakh Minister of Defense
• (Japan Today)
• (Interfax)

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