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7 attackers detained, four killed in anti-terrorist operation in Kazakhstan’s Aktoba

Four criminals were killed and seven were detained in an antiterrorist operation in Aktoba on Sunday. Two of the detained were wounded

ASTANA, June 5. /TASS/. The police have detained seven and killed four men who attacked arms shops and an army unit in Kazakhstan’s city of Aktoba (former Aktyubinsk), Interior Ministry Spokesman Almas Sadubayev said on Sunday.

"Four criminals were killed and seven were detained in an antiterrorist operation in Aktoba on Sunday. Two of the detained were wounded. Measures are currently being taken to spot and detain the rest of the attackers," he said.

"According to verified information, the criminals committed an armed attack on the Pallada arms shop where they killed a salesman and a security officer. Apart from that, the attackers wounded three police patrol officers who arrived at the scene," he said. Further on, the criminals attacked another arms shop, Pantera, and killed one customer and wounded another one. "Three of the attackers were killed in a shootout with the police, one was detained," Sadubayev said.

"The criminals seized a passenger bus to attack the army unit," he said. "They forced the bus driver and passenger to leave the bus and used it to ram-raid the gate. Once in the territory of the army unit, they opened indiscriminate gunfire to kill three and wound six servicemen."

"Officers of duty cut short an attempt to reach deeper into the unit’s territory," the spokesman said, adding that when police patrols arrived at the scene one attacker was killed and one more was wounded and detained.

Earlier, Sadubayev said that the attackers are presumably members of radical non-traditional religious groups.

The armed attack on weapons shops and an army unit in the city of Aktoba (former Aktyubinsk) in western Kazakhstan is a manifestation of extreme cynicism and cruelty, speaker of the upper house of Kazakhstan’s parliament Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev said on Sunday.

"The terrorist attack in Aktoba on the eve of the holy fast of Oraza is a manifestation of extreme cynicism and cruelty," he wrote on his Twitter account. In his words, the toughest measures are being taken to punish the attackers.