JAN. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — An ethnic Azerbaijani woman with Russian citizenship, Nurana Hasanova, was killed during an attack by an alleged member of the radical IS group on a nightclub in Istanbul on New Year’s Eve. It’s not clear ifHasanova was working at the nightclub or was visiting. At least 39 people died in the attack.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)
JAN. 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Radical Islamist recruitment from Central Asia came under the spot- light after the authorities in Turkey accused a Kyrgyz man of killing at least 39 people at a nightclub in Istanbul on New Year’s Eve. The attack was claimed by the extremist IS group. The Turkish authorities later retracted the accusation and instead said that they were hunting for an ethnic Uighur who may have spent time in Kyrgyzstan. Security experts have said that Central Asia is a prime recruiting group for IS.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)
DEC. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in the United States sentenced Irfan Demirtas, reported to be a joint Dutch and Turkish national, to seven years in prison for raising funds for the radical group Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Demirtas was arrested in Germany last year and extradited to the US. The IMU is considered a terrorist group and has been fighting US-led forces in Afghanistan. It was formed in the 1990s in Uzbekistan and has previously targeted Tashkent with bombs.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)
DEC. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh security forces arrested 16 people for allegedly stirring ethnic hatred and belonging to terrorist groups in four coordinated raids across the country. The Kazakh government has blamed radical Islamists for trying to recruit young men into the ranks of IS.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)
DEC. 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Moscow said that they had arrested citizens of Moldova and Tajikistan who had been planning a series of attacks. Security services said that the men were linked to the radical IS group and had been acting under the orders of a commander based in Turkey. Intelligence agencies worry that Central Asia has become a key recruiting ground for IS.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)
NOV. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Aktobe, west Kazakhstan, sentenced seven men who shot dead eight people in a series of attacks earlier this year to life jail sentences. Eighteen more people who helped the group were given between two and five year prison sentences. The judge described the men, who attacked a police outpost, as Islamic extremists.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)
NOV. 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Astana sentenced a man to six years in jail for promoting literature supporting IS in Syria. The unnamed man reportedly encouraged his followers on social media sites to join him in Syria to fight for IS.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)
NOV. 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkish security services arrested three dozen men from Central Asia and the South Caucasus who, they said, were working for the extremist IS group and had been planning a series of suicide attacks in Turkey’s biggest city. They said that the ringleaders were an Uzbek man and a Tajik man. Governments from Central Asia and the South Caucasus are increasingly concerned about their citizens heading to Syria to fight for IS.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)
NOV. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s defence minister Colonel-General Berdiyev Yaylym Yagmyrovich flew to Rawalpindi in Pakistan to meet with the head of the Pakistani army General Raheel Sharif, media reported. According to the reports the main focus of the trip was regional security and the growth of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The meeting is important because it is more evidence that Turkmenistan, normally reclusive and proudly neutral, is increasingly concerned about regional stability.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Baku jailed seven men for fighting for the radical IS group in Syria. Countries in Central Asia and the South Caucasus have been fighting to contain a recruitment drive by IS in the region. The men were jailed for between 2-1/2 and 14 years. They had been arrested once they returned home from fighting with IS.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
