JAN. 27 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Afghanistan have arrested a Kazakh national on suspicion of having links to terrorism, media reported quoting the Afghan foreign ministry. Media reports said that the man was from Atyrau and that he had been arrested in the northern part of Afghanistan. Kazakhstan has been trying to dampen an increase in recruitment by the radical IS group but it is rare for Kazakhs to be arrested in Afghanistan for links to Islamic extremists.

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JAN. 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Kazakh national arrested at New York’s JFK Airport in 2015 admitted in court to being a sympathiser of the radical IS group, US media reported. Ahror Saidahmetov, 21, who was living in New York at the time of his arrest, faces 15 years in jail. Kazakhstan and other countries in the region have been fighting IS recruitment.

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JAN. 16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s National Security Council dropped the threat level of a major terrorist attack from yellow. The Security Committee did not give a reason for dropping the threat from moderate. It was raised to moderate or yellow in June and extended in August. Kazakhstan had always intended to drop the threat level in January.

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JAN. 6 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Aktobe, north-west Kazakhstan, sentenced seven men to prison for terrorism related offences. The state prosecutors said that the group had been planning a series of attacks against Russia and Russians. Central Asian governments have become increasingly wary of attacks on their territory and of Islamic radicals using the region as a prime recruiting ground.

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