According to him the terrorist group included 8 Kazakh and 4 Uzbek nationals, who had been perpetrating subversive activities in Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan under direct orders from two leaders (amirs) of the network, Akhmed Baimurzayev and Zhakshybek Baimurzayev. The latter, according to the National Security Committee, was the resident of Talas region of Kyrgyzstan and played a significant role during the incursions of Batken region in Kyrgyzstan by Islamic militants in 1999 and 2000. Reportedly, Zhakshybek Baimurzayev, who possessed Kazakh, Uzbek and Kyrgyz passports, and belonged to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), directed the activities of the terrorist group in Kazakhstan. Vladimir Bozhko held members of the group responsible for a “series of terrorist acts in Uzbekistan” carried out this year and noted that Baimurzayev had received a solid training along with Amir Khattab, the Saudi-Chechen commander killed in Chechnia in 2002, and in terrorist training camps of Taliban and Al-Qaida. The whole story became “sensational news”, as phrased by some media sources, as it was the first time that the security services of Kazakhstan reported the detention of Al-Qaida members who were until recently exclusively associated with Afghanistan. Two events that preceded the detention of terrorists, allegedly Al-Qaida members, seem to be significant in this context. Last month four organizations, Al-Qaida among them, were banned by the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan as terrorist organizations. The decision was prompted by an application of the National Security Committee to the Supreme Court. Security services launched a wide-scale undercover operation, the main purpose of which was, as the nature of the current anti-terrorist campaign suggests, to substantiate the allegations about the existence of “extremist forces” in Kazakhstan officially made by the chief of the National Security Committee.

Second, the sensational news of the detention of members of Al-Qaida, an organization hitherto unknown to the Kazakh public, came in the wake of the October 29 visit of the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage to Kazakhstan. In his talks with president Nazarbayev, he thanked Kazakhstan for its anti-terrorist stance on international scene, particularly in Afghanistan and in Iraq. This gesture was taken in Kazakhstan as a signal to deepen the cooperation with the world superpower within the framework of combating international terrorism, which offers Kazakhstan the possibility to get more American military aid to strengthen its own security and polishes its image as an anti-terrorist state committed to democracy. And last, but not least, the National Security Service was reiterating all along that the source of terrorist threat in the region emanates from Uzbekistan (despite Uzbek allegations about the existence of terrorist camps in South Kazakhstan). This point was stressed again by Vladimir Bozhko who said that the arrested members of the terrorist group affiliated with the “Jamaat of Mujahids in Central Asia’ Islamic extremist organization founded by militants of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan affiliated with Al-Qaida, directed all its activities against Uzbekistan. Bozhko categorically denied “unsubstantiated accusations” of the existence of terrorist training camps on the territory of Kazakhstan and added that security services of Kazakhstan have handed over 20 detained terrorists to their Kyrgyz and Uzbek counterparts. Almost simultaneously with the arrests of Al-Qaida members, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Kazakhstan took a decision to extradite three residents of the South Kazakhstan region, suspected in the involvement in terrorist attacks in Tashkent and Bukhara region, to Uzbekistan. The only official explanation for the extradition was that the names of the three, brothers Abdunabi and Azamat Kadyrakhunov and Yelmurat Mammatkulov were mentioned at the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan. It seems, the detention of the alleged Al-Qaida terrorists was also a part of an attempt of Kazakh Security Services to show that they are capable of efficiently counteracting the well-organized and internationally operating Al-Qaida organization, a universally recognized and more serious threat than Hizb-ut-Tahrir. It should be recalled that last year, the International Crisis Group warned the governments of Central Asia against banning the Hizb-ut-Tahrir organization, pointing out that declaring this religious organization outlawed could encourage authoritarian regimes in the region to discriminate people on religious grounds and violate human rights, slowing down the pace of political and economic reforms. In this circumstance, Al-Qaida seems to be a convenient trump card for security services to achieve propaganda goals. Nevertheless, this unprecedented and surprisingly easy victory of Kazakh security services over a well organized intricate network linked to Al-Qaida raises certain doubts. According to investigators, members of the terrorist organization did not plan terrorist attacks against Kazakhstan and they got their training in Taliban and Al-Qaida camps abroad. But no country was named in this connection. The National Security Committee announced that terrorists were looting private apartments in Shymkent (South Kazakhstan), acting like common criminals in order to finance their terrorist activities, although they were being funded from abroad. Again, no country or organization was specified.