From: Vladic Ravich (vravich@sorosny.org)
Date: Fri Nov 12 2004 - 11:58:24 EST
KAZAKH SECURITY FORCES NAB AL-QAEDA-LINKED TERRORIST GROUP...
Vladimir Bozhko, first deputy chairman of Kazakhstan's National Security Committee (KNB), announced at a press conference in Astana on 11 November that Kazakh security forces have broken up a terrorist group in Kazakhstan with links to Al-Qaeda, Khabar news agency reported. The KNB has arrested nine Kazakh citizens and four Uzbek citizens, as well as four Kazakh women allegedly trained to be suicide bombers. The so-called Mujahidin of Central Asia Group was linked to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a group with known Al-Qaeda ties, through one of its leaders, Zhakshybek Biimurzaev, a native of Kyrgyzstan and former IMU fighter. Bozhko said that the group had planned to assassinate a high-ranking Uzbek official. Vladimir Zhumakanov, head of the KNB's counterterrorism department, noted that the would-be female suicide bombers cooperated with the investigation. Kazakh officials said that the group managed to recruit 50 Uzbek citizens and 20 Kazakh citizens over the last two years. In the course of the
arrests, police confiscated weapons, forged documents, and a large quantity of extremist propaganda, including videotapes of addresses by Osama Bin Laden. DK
...WITH TIES TO UZBEK TERRORIST ATTACKS IN SPRING
KNB officials said that members of the group were involved in terrorist attacks in Uzbekistan in late March-early April and three suicide bombings in Tashkent on 30 July, Kazinform reported. Khabar news agency quoted Zhakshybek Biimurzaev, one of the group's leaders, as saying, "This year there were three terror attacks in Tashkent in July. I organized them on the instruction of my amir [commander] Usman. Three Kazakh citizens took part in them; I was opposed to this, but the amir ordered it." Bozhko said that the group's members, who were allegedly trained in Al-Qaeda and Taliban camps, targeted Uzbekistan "because [the Uzbek authorities] purportedly oppress Muslims," Interfax-Kazakhstan reported. Members also referred to the United States and Israel, the Tashkent embassies of which were attacked by suicide bombers on 30 July, as "enemies of Islam." Bozhko said that the Uzbek citizens will be extradited to Uzbekistan once Kazakh officials complete their investigation. DK
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