– TERROR IN CENTRAL ASIA

* Tashkent Clashes – The Uzbek security forces closed in, on 02/06/2005 night, on a hideout apartment on the outskirts of Tashkent, Uzbekistan’s capital. Eight people, described by the authorities as Islamic militants, were killed in the exchange of fire. Some others managed, probably, to escape the scene. Families from the USA and Israeli embassies in Tashkent were temporarily evacuated as a precaution.  

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* Taraz Trial – On 03/15/2005, the trial of two suspected Al Qaeda members began in Taraz, South Kazakhstan not far from the Uzbek border. One of the two defendants Dilmurat Sheyusupov, 32, was accused that in 2002 he visited the Gulf Emirates and met there with two Al Qaeda operatives. The Al Qaeda operatives gave him $2000, which, according to Dilmurat Sheyusupov, were designated to finance his father’s funeral.

The two Al Qaeda operatives visited Dilmurat Sheyusupov in Southern Kazakhstan in 09/2003. He introduced them to the second defendant – Rahim Sultangzayev. They received $5,000 more to form an Al Qaeda cell in their region. Dilmurat Sheyusupov and Rahim Sultangzayev intended to build a training camp in the mountainous area on the border with Kirgizstan. 

The younger brother of Rahim Sultangzayev killed himself as a suicide bomber in the Multiple Car bombs attack in Tashkent, Uzbekistan’s capital, on 02/16/1999 (see – Tashkent 99 Bombings).

The two suspects were already under surveillance of the Kazakh security service and known as members of the local Jamaat Mujahideen.

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* Kirgistan Raid – On 05/13/2006, a group of armed men from Tajikistan, identified as Radical Islamists, attacked a village in neighboring Kirgizstan. 13 people, all from the attacking group, were killed in the raid, before the remains of the group withdrew back to Tajikistan. It is most likely that the Tajik security forces were tipped off before the raid and ambushed the group. 

 

 

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