ASTANA, February 4 (RIA Novosti) – Four men from Kazakhstan are on trial in their home country on terrorism charges after allegedly going to war-torn Syria to join in the fighting there, a local news agency reported Tuesday.
Two of the four men are being tried for alleged involvement with terrorist groups, while the other two face the lesser charge of financing terrorism, Novosti Kazakhstan reported, citing security officials.
Islamists from the largely Muslim region of Central Asia are known to have entered Syria to join rebel units battling the government of President Bashar Assad, but the exact number of such fighters is unclear.
The four Kazakhstanis planned to move their wives and children to Syria, but were detained and extradited back home, Novosti Kazakhstan reported.
Syria has been in the throes of a bloody civil war for three years, and both senior Russian and US officials have warned repeatedly that increasing numbers of foreign radicals are gravitating to the fighting.
