MOSCOW, February 17 (RIA Novosti) – Six people in Kyrgyzstan have been arrested on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks, a security official in the Central Asian nation told RIA Novosti on Monday.
“Some of the detainees had trained in Syrian camps run by international terrorist organizations and have experience fighting for rebel groups, while others are from criminal gangs,” a representative of the country’s State Committee for National Security said.
According to the preliminary investigation, the suspects were planning to carry out terrorist attacks in the former Soviet republic’s capital Bishkek and the southern city of Osh, where over a hundred people were killed when ethnic violence between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks erupted following the ouster of former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev four years ago.
The suspects, all residents of the Osh region, were arrested while attempting armed house burglaries, which investigators say were intended to fund the purchase of weapons.
Multiple criminal investigations have been opened into the matter and the suspects remain in police custody.
