Terrorism becomes major internal threat - prosecutor general of Kazakhstan

ASTANA, July 22. /TASS/. Terrorism is the main threat to Kazakhstan’s security, the country’s Prosecutor General Zhakip Asanov said on Friday. "The security forces are focused on the identification and neutralization of terrorists. We previously feared terrorists from the outside. Now we are facing threats within the country," he said at a meeting of the Prosecutor’s Office collegium that discussed the results of the work over the first six months of the year. According to Asanov, the role of the policemen who are the first to face the attack is increasing in these conditions. According to him, in the last five years alone, 144 police officers were killed in the country in the line on duty. The prosecutor general said that the country’s law enforcement system is capable of coping with the terrorist and other threats, ensuring security of Kazakhstan. "We know what to do to protect the citizens, society and the state", he said. On Monday, July 18, five people died and another nine were wounded in an armed attack at the Almaty Interior Ministry and National Security Committee departments, Kalmukhanbet Kasymov, Kazakhstan’s minister of internal affairs, told journalists. "Three policemen, one border guard and one civilian died. A border guard put up resistance; disobeyed the assailants and was wounded," Kasymov, who arrived in Almaty on order from Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev, said. The red terror alert was declared in the city, security forces conducted an operation to arrest the persons involved in the crime. The attacker was a 27-year-old man twice convicted for robbery with violence and illegal acquisition and possession of firearms. He was born in the Kyzylorda region. According to the interior minister, nine people, including six policemen and the assailant himself, were taken to hospital. Police were questioning the attacker right in a hospital ward. All the facilities in Almaty where a terrorist attack occurred are now operating normally, spokesperson for the Almaty Department of Internal Affairs Saltanat Azimbek told TASS on Tuesday. "The situation in the city is stable, there is no threat to the citizens’ lives. The situation is fully controlled by the law enforcement agencies. All facilities are operating normally," she said. According to Azimbek, law enforcement officers who on Monday were put on a beefed-up security regime, now "are on duty as usual." The attack on the Almaty district interior department and the National Security Committee department took place on Monday morning. Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev classified the incident as a terror attack. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev called the incident in Almaty terrorist act. Read more