300 Kazakhstanis joined Islamic State, half of them - women

The National Security Committee of Kazakhstan has declared that more than three hundred Kazakhstan nationals are fighting in the ranks of the Islamic State. Half of them are women, Tengrinews reports.

"The chairman of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan Nurtai Abykayev gave the number of Kazakhs in the ranks of the Islamic State – more than 300, who constitute a so-called "Kazakh zhamagat." And half of those three hundred are women, the chairman of the National Security Committee clarified," the statement of the Committee reads.

Kazakhstan intelligence agencies are concerned that extremist recruiters arrive to post-soviet countries and instill radical views in young people, inspiring them to get involved in extremist activities and fight for the Islamic State.

"It is also worrying that there are cases of self-radicalization of young people under the influence of certain materials published on the Internet," the website of the Committee says.

Kazakhstanis fight alongside people from more than 80 countries and the post soviet space is not the only source of fresh combatants for the Islamic State. This, Abykayev said, increases the geographical extent of terrorist threat in the world, since militants might return to their countries.

Abykayev said that Kazakhstan authorities were taking measures to prevent Kazakh nationals from traveling to regions of Syria and Iraq controlled by the IS.

“Russia has introduced special amendments into its legislation. Similar measures are being taken in Kazakhstan and other countries of the Commonwealth to make the work of security agencies easier with respect to these types of citizens,” Abykayev said.

The threat of radicalization becomes more acute given the withdrawal of coalition troops from Afghanistan. This problem topped the agenda of the recent 37th meeting of the Council of Heads of Security and Special Services of CIS countries in Astana.

There, the Director of Federal Security Service of Russia Alexander Bortnikov said that America and the UK had already ceased all the active combat operation in Afghanistan.

According to Russian secret services, a large number of international terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan harbor intentions to spill their terrorist activities onto the territory of the neighbouring CIS countries, and especially the countries of the Central Asian region that include Kazakhstan. After that, they plan to extend their activities to Russia.

Nurtai Abykayev assured that in Kazakhstan the work to prevent radicalization was not confined to the power structures alone. The Chairman of the National Security Committee stressed that other state agencies along with the Anti-Terrorist Centre of Kazakhstan were working together with NGOs to stop the radicalization of the people of Kazakhstan.

By Dinara Urazova