Confusion Reigns After Fresh Violence in Kyrgyzstan

A blast in central Bishkek and a shoot-out in the restive southern city of Osh have rattled nerves throughout Kyrgyzstan days before a December 2 visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. 

The blast occurred early on November 30 in a manhole outside the Bishkek Sports Palace, the venue for the emotional trial of those accused of ordering and executing violence during Kyrgyzstan’s April 7 uprising. Two police officers were injured in the explosion, which shattered windows in the Sports Palace and could be heard throughout downtown Bishkek, but did not cause extensive damage. 

Authorities offer conflicting reports about suspects for the latest violence. Security Council Secretary Marat Imankulov blamed “nationalist-separatists” for the Bishkek bombing, linking them to the arrest last week of nine people suspected of plotting a wave of bombings to destabilize the country. The events are all “links in one chain,” he said, according to the AKIpress news agency. 

But, echoing the conclusions of other security officials, the deputy head of Kyrgyzstan’s National Security Service, Kolbay Musaev, said he suspected the Islamic Movement of Turkestan -- a group thought to be allied with the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) -- had carried out the bombing and the Osh clashes on November 29, in which five militants were reported killed. “An approximate circle of suspects has been established,” Musaev said in comments carried by AKIpress, adding that he had 39 suspects in mind believed to be plotting 33 terrorist acts. 

A local police official told one Western news agency that the Osh raid targeted members of the banned Islamist group, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, though the group has never publicly advocated violence. 

Since Washington launched its war on terror, the former Soviet Central Asian states have often cooperated with this effort. At the same time, rights activists have said that regional governments have used the anti-terror effort as a cover for cracking down on people who may fall in other categories, such as perceived opponents of the regimes, or criminals against whom authorities have failed to gather sufficient evidence. 

In June, the head of Kyrgyzstan’s State Security Service, Keneshbek Duishebaev, claimed that relatives of ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev conspired with the IMU to destabilize southern Kyrgyzstan with this summer’s ethnic violence. Since then, the state has offered little proof of a link. 

In addition to Bakiyev and several family members for the deaths of almost 90 protestors on April 7, on trial at the Bishkek Sports Palace are also eight low-ranking members of the country’s special forces Alfa group. Three high-profile defendants have fled since the trial began. 

The trial has unleashed a maelstrom of passions with a stadium full of aggrieved relatives screaming at defendants and lawyers. This has led to contradictory speculation about possible perpetrators of the explosion, with fingers pointed both to Alfa members and to the so-called Homeland’s Martyrs, a group of family members of those killed on April 7. The blast postponed the trial. 

Some also suspect the Osh violence may be designed to curry favor for the Alfa troops on trial, as many fear the country has no reliable police force. 

The coordinating council for emergency situations of the Collective Security Treaty Organization states met on November 30 in Moscow. Members discussed the situation in Kyrgyzstan and the need for a rapid response force, CA-News.org reported.