(Almaty) – Kazakhstan confirmed on Saturday that two of its citizens were killed in Russia in an anti-terrorism operation carried out this week by Moscow, which claimed to have prevented an attack on a synagogue in the Russian capital.
Russian security services announced on Thursday that this operation was carried out in the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow, and targeted suspected members of a branch of the Islamic State (ISIS).
Russian media said that the two suspects who were shot were from Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic located in Central Asia, and arrived in Russia in late February.
“The Kazakh nationality and arrival of these two individuals in Russia have been confirmed,” the Kazakh National Security Committee (KNB) said in a statement published on Saturday in response to these press reports.
KNB notes that the Kazakh authorities are conducting an investigation “in close contact” with the Federal Security Service.
Russia's Federal Security Service announced Thursday that it has put an end to the activities of a cell of the Islamic State-Khorasan (EI-K), a regional branch that is particularly active in Afghanistan.
For its part, the US Embassy in Moscow advised its citizens in Russia on Thursday to avoid large gatherings in the capital during the next 48 hours, saying that it fears imminent “extremist” projects, a few days before the presidential elections in Russia.
Last Sunday, the Russian authorities announced that they had killed six suspected ISIS fighters in Ingushetia (south) in the Russian Caucasus.
ISIS's influence in the country remains limited despite some attacks in recent years, especially in the Muslim-majority Caucasus republics such as Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan.
Official figures indicate that approximately 4,500 Russians, mainly from the Caucasus, fought alongside ISIS.
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