The 2016 Aktobe shootings were a spate of shootings on civilian and military targets in

Aktobe Aktobe ( kz, Ақтөбе, Aqtöbe; russian: Актобе, Aktobe) is a city on the Ilek River in Kazakhstan. It is the administrative center of Aktobe Region. In 2020, it had a population of 500,757 people. Aktobe is located in the west of Ka ...

, Kazakhstan, in June 2016. On 5 June, two attacks occurred at gun stores, while a third attack was aimed at a military unit. Multiple shootouts between terrorists and police occurred over the next few days. The shootings left 7 victims dead and 37 injured. Eighteen attackers were killed and nine were arrested.

Background

Terrorism and

extremism Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied sha ...

are rare in Kazakhstan, however,

was the site of Kazakhstan's first suicide bombing in 2011. Despite the fact that Kazakhstan is usually peaceful, the recent plunge in

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

prices, Kazakhstan's main export, has threatened stability in the country, as was evidenced by a number of protests in April and May 2016. Recent laws allowing foreigners to purchase land in Kazakhstan had also caused uproar.

Shootings

Initial shootings

The group that committed the attacks, which numbered to at least twenty-seven people, first robbed two gun shops early on 5 June, killing a guard and clerk at one shop and killing a customer at the other. They also wounded three policemen before three of the attackers were killed. The surviving attackers then hijacked a bus and rammed open a gate to a national guard base where they killed three servicemen and wounded nine before one attacker was killed.

Later shootings

The following night after the first shootings, five more militants were killed in gun battles with police and two were arrested. More police officers were reported to have been killed or injured during the firefights. Early on 10 June, five militants were killed and two policemen were wounded in more gun battles in Aktobe.

Responsibility

The perpetrators of the shootings have been described by the police press service as "followers of radical, non-traditional religious movements", a term that usually refers to Islamic extremists in Kazakhstan. On 10 June, Kazakhstan's president

Nursultan Nazarbayev Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev ( kk, Нұрсұлтан Әбішұлы Назарбаев, Nūrsūltan Äbişūlı Nazarbaev, ; born 6 July 1940) is a Kazakh politician and military officer who served as the first President of Kazakhstan, in off ...

told his

Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

the attackers were

Salafists The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a reform branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" (), the first three generat ...

and probably included

Islamic State An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic ter ...

militants who had returned to Kazakhstan from Syria.

Reactions

Nazarbayev declared 9 June a national day of mourning. He also noted that the attacks occurred on the eve of

Ramadan , type = islam , longtype = Religious , image = Ramadan montage.jpg , caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...

and claimed that they were ordered from abroad. He also suggested that the attacks were an attempt to start a "

colour revolution Colour revolution (sometimes coloured revolution) is a term used since around 2004 by worldwide media to describe various anti-regime protest movements and accompanying (attempted or successful) changes of government that took place in pos ...

" in Kazakhstan. Nazarbayev also called for harsher criminal penalties on Kazakhs who joined militant groups, tighter security at gun shops and military installations and for stricter migration control. Some observers have seen the attacks as evidence of rising tensions between different political groups. Others have stated the attack shows a weakening in president Nazarbayev's control of the country.

References

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