Kazakh special services detained 16 islamists
Kazakh special forces held the raids through network of followers of the Takfir wal-Hijra Islamist group, accusing them of «inciting religious hatred», says Reuters with reference on own journalists.
The National Security Committee said in a statement it had carried out raids in four provinces of the Central Asian nation in order to "neutralize the cells of religious extremist organization Takfir wal-Hijra".
The Islamist group, established in Egypt in the 1960s, has been banned in Kazakhstan since 2014.
The security body said group members sympathized with "the actions of terrorists in Iraq and Syria and, in general, reject secular government and constitutional laws".
Among other provinces, the security operation covered the Aktobe region, the site of a deadly Islamist attack last June in which 25 people, including 18 attackers, were killed.
The attack targeted a national guard base and firearms shops in the city of Aktobe. It was the deadliest incident of its kind since the mostly Muslim country became independent of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Last month, a local court sentenced most of the surviving attackers - described by prosecutors as Islamic State sympathizers - to life in prison. The authorities have not linked Takfir wal-Hijra to that attack.
