India’s close ally in Central Asia foils coup attempt by terrorists a day after SCO summit

Astana, Kazakhstan: Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security announced on Friday that it had thwarted a coup attempt by a group aiming to seize power violently and destabilise the socio-political situation through mass riots.

ET has learnt that a terrorist group indoctrinated by religion is suspected to be behind the coup attempt, a day after Kyrgyzstan PM called for stronger action against terrorists and extremists while addressing the SCO summit.

The committee's statement revealed that raids on the suspects' homes and vehicles uncovered components for improvised explosive devices, firearms, ammunition, walkie-talkies, body armour, law enforcement uniforms, drones, and extremist literature, sources said.

Five suspects have been placed in pre-trial detention, and further investigative and operational measures are ongoing. Experts on the region did not rule out foreign hand behind the failed coup attempt.

The SCO summit took a strong stand against cross-border terror and sponsors of terror.

In June, Kyrgyzstan stated that it had arrested 15 suspected supporters of ISIS — a growing concern in Central Asian countries following a March attack in Moscow.

"The state committee for national security has ended the activities of a clandestine radical group, whose members were actively promoting IS ideology," the Kyrgyz security service had then said in a statement.

"In total, 15 people were arrested in the capital Bishkek and around the country," the security service had then said, adding that "one of the leaders of the group was under the orders of a member of the Islamic State in Afghanistan known as Khorasan.”

The ISIS offshoot has been classified by the United Nations as "the biggest terrorist threat in Afghanistan and Central Asia" and is one of the main security challenges for countries in Central Asia that border Afghanistan.

This concern has increased following the terror attack claimed by Khorasan on March 22 in Moscow in which at least 144 people were killed — the highest death toll in an attack in Russia since 2004.

ET had reported in March that Tajiks involved in the Moscow attack have been radicalised by Pakistan seminaries and have subsequently been part of ISIS and got shelter in Turkey. Tajikistan is also cracking down against the extremists and radicals.

Meanwhile, Pakistani nationals are under scanner for exporting extremism including training of local youth in radical seminaries in Pakistan, according to experts on Central Asia. Central Asia is characterized by secular values, multiculturalism and pluralism. But in recent months tensions have been rising in Kyrgyzstan over the influx of foreigners and illegal immigration.