Slain Bishkek terrorists funded, armed by ex-deputy from Bakiyev's party - National Security Committee
BISHKEK. July 20 (Interfax) - A former Kyrgyz parliamentarian from the Ak-Zhol (Bright Path) Party, K.M., who was involved with an international terror group which was killed in Bishkek on July 16, has been arrested at Manas Airport in Bishkek in the early hours of Monday, a spokesperson for the Kyrgyz State National Defense Committee (GKNB) told Interfax on Monday.
It was established that "the militants from the underground cell of ISIS, an international terrorist organization, who were killed during the anti-terror operation, maintained close contact and regular communication with the person arrested," the source said.
"We have obtained a piece of information that the arrested K.M., acting through one of the leaders of the cell, Tariel Dzhumagulov, has a criminal record and is a former member of an organized-crime group, also known as Tokha, sent money to the group and provided them with weapons, in particular two Kalashnikov automatic rifles which were among the other weapons seized at the scene of the anti-terror operation," the source said.
"According to the data obtained, Dzhumagulov's armed group, which operated on K.M.'s design and tip-off, were to carry out a number of robberies on financial institutions and individuals with the aim of appropriating their financial assets and subsequently use them to finance terrorist activities and destabilize the domestic situation," the spokesperson said.
The suspect is now held in GKNB's custody, he said.
The only member of the Ak-Zhol Party, set up by the former Kyrgyz president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev and disbanded after the April 2010 revolution, who went by the K.M. initials was Maksat Kunakunov, who led the party's youth wing.
A counter-terror operation was conducted in a residential area within a kilometer and a half from the center of Bishkek on the evening of July 16, to eliminate a group of militants from an international terrorist organization. The operation resulted in four militants being killed and seven apprehended, and four special-forces officers being injured.
It is believed that the international terror group members are part of the Islamic State, a radical group banned in Kyrgyzstan, and had been planning to commit terror attacks during a namaz religious service at the end of the month of Ramadan in Bishkek and at a Russian airbase in Kant.