Kyrgyzstan carries out large-scale raid on religious extremists

BISHKEK. Nov 9 (Interfax) - Kyrgyzstan has apprehended almost 40 members of Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami, a religious extremist organization (declared terrorist and banned in Russia0, the country's State Committee for National Security said in a statement on Monday.

"A large-scale operation to arrest members of the banned religious-extremist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir has been conducted in the territory of the [Kyrgyz] republic. In all, 38 Kyrgyz citizens (men and women) have been held, most of them positioned within the organization's top and medium-level management," the statement said.

Irrefutable evidence has been obtained of their involvement in propagating the Hizb ut-Tahrir radical ideology, which is backed up by the results of forensic religious evaluations and recorded instances of new adepts recruited and lured into its ranks, the statement said.

"Some members of this banned organization attempted to impede an investigation and destroy the available extremist literature on the spot. Also, searches of the suspects' home addresses led to the discovery and seizure of a large amount of extremist literature, means of communication and transmitting, sending extremist materials," the statement said.

The inquiry continues.