BISHKEK (TCA) — Kyrgyz authorities have identified a man they say carried out the bombing attack against the Chinese Embassy in Bishkek on August 30, RFE/RL reports.
The Kyrgyz State Committee of National Security said on September 6 that the alleged attacker was a 33-year-old ethnic Uyghur with a Tajik passport, Zoir Halilov, who was a member of the Islamic Movement of Eastern Turkestan.
A suicide car bomber rammed the gates of the Chinese Embassy compound in Bishkek on August 30 before detonating an explosive device inside the car, killing himself and injuring three Kyrgyz employees of the embassy.
The National Security Committee also said five Kyrgyz and Uzbek nationals suspected of involvement in the preparation of the attack have been apprehended. Another four Kyrgyz nationals were added to the international wanted list.
According to the National Security Committee, the terrorist attack was “instigated” by several Uyghur terrorist groups fighting alongside Islamic militants in Syria.
Uyghurs are Turkic-speaking native Muslim people of China’s northwestern province of Xinjiang, which Uyghurs traditionally call Eastern Turkestan.
Also on September 6, the National Security Committee said that a member of an international terrorist group has been “liquidated” near Bishkek. The 39-year-old perpetrator was killed in a shoot-out with law enforcement officers on August 29.
The man’s identity and the group he allegedly belonged to was not disclosed.
Investigators found a rifle, an improvised explosive device, and a significant amount of ammunition in the killed man’s possession.
