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August 7, 2006

Kyrgyzstan: Three Islamists, Including Influential Cleric, Killed

Today, Interfax-Religion reports that three members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan were killed in South Kyrgyzstan, according to the Kyrgyz National Security Service press center.

A source said: "Three militants of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan were killed in a special operation in an Osh suburb on August 6. Special task forces of the National Security Service and the Interior Ministry assisted by Uzbek law enforcers detected a group of militants traveling through Osh in a Daewoo Nexia. They tracked the vehicle outside the city limits. The militants opened fire at the officers when they tried to stop the car."

The men were suspected to have killed policemen in Tajikistan and to have attacked customs and border posts in South Kyrgyzstan. The men's accomplices are being hunted.

However, it appears that the battle against Islamism may have been carried out a little too effectively. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports that a security raid has led to the death of a prominent imam has been killed.

It appears from the report that the Kyrgyzstan National Security Service (SNB) has already identified the imam as a "terrorist", and it appears that he was one of the three men killed. The imam, Muhammadrafiq Kamalov, aka Rafiq Qori Kamoluddin (pictured below right), was leader of the Al-Sarahsiy Mosque in Kara-Suu. He was killed late on August 6 on the outskirts of the adjacent city of Osh.

A security official, Nurbek Tokbaev, said: "Around 10:30 p.m. on August 6, 2006, identified members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan were squeezed out of a densely populated district of Osh in order to avoid casualties among peaceful civilians. After that, officers of the Kyrgyz National Security Service attempted to stop the terrorists' white car, a Daewoo Nexia. However, the persons in the car did not follow [law-enforcement] demands and opened fire with automatic weapons. As a result of return fire, armed terrorists were destroyed by the National Security Service."

The official stated; "When they searched their car, [security forces] found one AK-SU Kalashnikov automatic rifle, three full magazines, 266 cartridges, four RGD-5 hand grenades, one F-1 grenade, one RPK automatic rifle magazine, a road map of Uzbekistan where a number of locations were marked with the word 'jihad,' one pair of army binoculars, extremist religious literature in the Kyrgyz and Uzbek languages, and fake passports."

If the Kyrgyzstan National Security Service (SNB) report is authentic, then questions must be asked as to the real agenda of the cleric. He was regarded as important not only in Kyrgyzstan, but in adjoining nations.

Kyrgyzstan, like other Central Asian republics, is stuck in a Soviet time warp. Though it has been free from the Soviet Empire since 1991, it was ruled for more than a decade by Askar Akayev, who was ousted in a bloodless coup on March 24, 2003, with the opposition taking over. There are questions regarding the integrity and impartiality of some of its officials, even now. A US military base exists in the country, but last week, relations with the US deteriorated, according to Reuters and RIA Novosti.

In mid-July, two US diplomats had been expelled from Kyrgyzstan, accused of interfering in the nation's domestic affairs, and six members of the Kyrgyz National Security Service who were in the US undergoing antiterrorism training were expelled in response. Last Wednesday, the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry announced that two employees were ordered to leave the United States. No reason was given for the move.

The imam who was apparently a "terrorist" made a good job of presenting himself as a "moderate" according to Radio Free Europe, who interviewed him on May 12 this year. Kamoluddin was saying that though he refused to allow his wife, daughters or sons to join the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, he nonetheless allowed them to worship at his mosque. He said: "But I also do not support the view that Hizb ut-Tahrir are terrorists, enemies of the government, or enemies of the people. And to those who say they aren't Muslims - they are Muslims. They are a particular group, but they want Islam and they serve Islam."

He insisted that though he allowed the Hizb ut-Tahrir to attend prayers at the mosque, he did not support their attempts to recruit. "If any Hizb ut-Tahrir member brings even one leaflet and gives it to even one person to read -- that would be propaganda."

The group Hizb ut-Tahrir, founded in 1952 in Jerusalem by an Islamic jurist, Taqiuddin al-Nabhani, has a title that means "Party of Liberation". It aims to reestablish the Caliphate, the pan-national Islamic state. For this reason, Hizb ut-Tahrir is banned in most Middle Eastern Countries, as well as Germany, Russia, and countries which formerly were in the Soviet Union, such as Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. It is also banned in Bashkortostan and Tatarstan.

In late July this year, Hizb ut-Tahrir members in southern Kyrgystan appeared to be becoming more pro-active in their militancy:

Possible Hizb ut-Takhrir militants attacks on security structures buildings in Kyrgyzstan prevented
In the southern capital of Kyrgyzstan a storehouse with the weapons and ammunition that belongs to the militants of the Hizb ut-Takhrir organization were discovered, news agency Regnum reports. There was also map-diagrams of the sections of the Osh city with mapping of approaches and withdrawals to the buildings of public institutions, including the buildings of the leadership of the National Security Service in the hiding-place at the Moslem cemetery in Osh, the agency says referring to the spokesperson of the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry press-service Aida Bakirova. The secret services in cooperation with the other law-enforcement agencies have established the personalities of certain Khasan and Taalaya who had been active members of the organized criminal association of extremists and have certain relation to the found weaponry. At present in the south of Kyrgyzstan special action of main structures for the suppression of the activity of the supporters of religious- extremist organization Hizb ut-Takhrir is continuing, Regnum writes.

Kamoluddin's openness about allowing members of an illegal group to take part in mosque activities in Kara-Suu (Karasu) suggests that perhaps he was not as innocent as he would like to have presented himself.

Just over a fortnight after speaking to Radio Free Europe, Kamoluddin was arrested by the SNB. Axis Globe from 28 May states:

"Kyrgyz SNB detained and interrogated prominent Islamic preacher, the imam of Jami-mosque Al-Sarhasiy in Karasu city - sheikh Rafiq Kamalov. The imam was questioned for the reason that the security services found his book with his phone number among the personal belongings of the gang members killed during May 12 raid on the Kyrgyz border. Kamalov was released after 24 hours. He said that the authorities thought that there are militants hiding in his house. SNB officers searched the house but did not find anything.
To remind, Karasu is considered one of the main centers of activity of the radical Islamic organization "Hizb ut-Tahrir" and other extremist groups. The mosque where Kamalov is preaching is considered local breading-ground for the ideas of Islamic fundamentalism."

On 12 May, members of the Islamic Movement of Turkestan attacked the frontier post of Tajikistan and the customs post of Kyrgyzstan. The Islamic Movement of Turkestan (IMT) is believed to be a new name of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. The SNB had found through investigations that IMT had planned to conduct a series of terrorist attacks timed to coincide with the one-year anniversary of Andijan events. (On May 13, 2005, in Andijan, capital of Uzbekistan, hundreds of demonstrators were murdered by forces of the Uzbak president, Islam Karimov).

7 machine carbines, a machine gun, and a sniper rifle were seized in raids after the May 12 raids. IMT/IMU members had also gathered aluminium powder for use in explosives. The director of the SCO Regional Anti-terrorist Structure, (RATS), Vyacheslav Kasymov told RIA Novosti that the IMT had recently become activated, and that its members "steal cars, kill innocent owners, and factually openly move along the roads of Kyrgyzstan. In liquidating this group, the forces of both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan cooperated closely and demonstrated high professionalism."

The city of Kara-Suu (Karasu) lies close on the border with Uzbekistan, and houses many refugees from Karimov's oppressive regime, particularly following the Andijan massacre. One half of the city is in Kyrgyzstan, and the other is in Uzbekistan. A bridge formerly linked the two halves of the city, but it was dismantled in January 2003.Axis states:

"Besides that, the Uzbeks of Kyrgyzstan are much more religious than the Kyrgyz. It is from the Uzbeks (and first of all of the young ones) that the radical Islamic organization "Hizb ut-Tahrir", and other extremist groups, consist. Karasu is considered one of the main centers of their activity (here, the breading-ground for the ideas of Islamic fundamentalism is Jami-mosque Al-Sarhasiy, the imam of which is the prominent Islamic preacher of South Kyrgyzstan, sheikh Rafiq Kamalov). However, the islamisation and oppositionist activity of local Uzbeks is nourished not only by ethnic contradictions, but also by a difficult socio-economic situation in the southern part of Kyrgyzstan."

It appears that Muhammadrafiq Kamalov, aka Rafiq Qori Kamoluddin, is not the "moderate" cleric as he had earlier described himself to Radio Free Europe.

Radio Free Europe states that Kamoluddin's body had at least four bullet wounds. This evening, his body was buried according to Islamic custom, and hundreds of mourners had gathered to pay their respects.

But even though Kyrgyzstan is not a beacon of freedom of information and free expression, it appears that Muhammadrafiq Kamalov, aka Rafiq Qori Kamoluddin, really was a terrorist.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 7, 2006 6:06 PM

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