Vast, resource-rich Kazakhstan prides itself on being the most stable and tranquil of the Central Asian states — which are to varying degrees all burdened by corrupt elites, ethnic hatreds and the specter of Islamist militancy. But at 9:30 am local time Tuesday a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside the offices of the country’s main intelligence agency in the western city of Aktobe. Three people were injured in the attack, which observers described as a rarity.
Yet, in Kazakhstan, as is true for the rest of the region, the threat of extremist militancy is never far off, not least as a result of the tremendous political repression practiced by Central Asia’s post-Soviet ruling elites. Political Islam is a bogeyman constantly invoked by governments here to justify crackdowns and censorship — not surprisingly, such heavy-handedness is driving some toward militant outfits like the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan or the Hizb-ut Tahrir. But the Kazakhs are smarter, and chose to play the “See no terrorism, hear no terrorism” game. Who did they blame for the bombing? The mafia, of course.
Eurasianet has the details:
Prosecutor-General’s Office spokesman Zhandos Umiraliyev… moved to quash initial media speculation that an Islamic radical had attacked the security service – instead, he said, it was a criminal kingpin who blew himself up in what must be the first known mafia suicide attack in Central Asia, and possibly beyond.
Regional imams were meeting in Aktobe’s central mosque to discuss the incident, said Baurzhan Yesmakhanov, chief imam for Aktobe region. He said that Makatov was not known at the mosque.
“We have simply gathered imams to study what happened. We don’t know what this is connected to,” he said by telephone.
