Kyrgyz officials say that alleged militants killed and detained in Bishkek on July 16 were members of the Islamic State, and were receiving support from Syria.Rakhat Sulaimanov, spokesman for Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security, said that the militants were planning several terrorist attacks, including one against the Russian military base at Kant, in northern Kyrgyzstan, and a terrorist attack during public Eid al-Fitr prayers in Bishkek. He said that six IS militants had been killed in two separate operations in Bishkek on July 16 and seven more arrested.
Sulaimanov said the group's leader of the group was Zhanbolat Amirov, a Kazakh citizen, who was among those killed. He and another Kazakh, Albert Abkhin, were sentenced in Kyrgyzstan to three and four years in jail for forgery and illegal border crossing several months ago.
Kyrgyz officials earlier reported that the pair had escaped from prison in April. On July 1, when Kyrgyz police found them in Bishkek and tried to rearrest them, Abkhin blew himself up, while Amirov managed to escape.
On July 17, troops from the Alpha special-police unit raided a private home in southern Bishkek before the suspects opened fire. Four officers were injured in the operation.
Two more members of the group were killed in the suburbs of Bishkek later the same evening, according to officials.