An article in yesterday’s Vechernii Bishkek made no mention of the Imam, only noting that “3 extremists were liquidated” in the Ak-Tilek microregion of Osh and that the men killed were suspected of involvement in the attacks on border posts on May 12. Today, however, the newspaper ran a story confirming Kamalov’s death:

Witness

Well-known preacher amongst killed extremists

The funeral of the head of the local mosque, well-known preacher Mukhammadrafik Kamalov, was held yesterday in Kara-Suu.

The imam was killed on Sunday evening in Osh during a special operation by the Kyrgyz National Security Agency. We reported on his preachings and their results in yesterday’s edition. The law enforcement agencies did not immediately reveal the truth that the famous religious activist was amongst the 3 men shot dead. His relatives and journalists only found out about his death around lunch-time yesterday.

Several tens of people gathered outside Osh Municipal Hospital’s morgue where identification was carried out. Police also stood outside armed with machine guns. Their presence was explained by a deputy of the local directorate of internal affairs as being to ensure public order was maintained. According to him, the people who had gathered outside the morgue had already tried to force their way into the morgue, breaking down the iron fence. It was therefore decided to strengthen the police presence.

The deceased’s body was handed over to relatives at about 1pm. They immediately took the body home to Kara-Suu, where a wake was organised for the shot man. Thousands of people continued arriving until late evening to pay their respects to the Imam.

Both in Kara-Suu and the south more generally Kamalov enjoyed much support and respect. The younger brother of the first Mufti of Kyrgyzstan, Sadykjan Kamalov, Mukhammadrafik had for the last 20 years worked as the Imam of the largest mosque in the region, the Kara-Suu central mosque. It is attended by five to six thousand people on Fridays.

Kamalov was also an active community member. He often appeared in the media talking about relevant topics, including political issues.

Dark days began for him after the May raids by fighters who attacked the Tajik border post Lyakkan, our [Kyrgyz border post] Ak-Turpak, and moved further into Kyrgyz territory. During the counter operation, as is well-known, several law enforcement and customs employees died. During the investigation, the competent authorities suspected the imam of involvement with the events and arrested him. Our newspaper has already reported these events. The holy man was released the next day, but he was kept under observation.

“The internal affairs authorities had reliable information about his involvement with an extremist organisation. And yesterday this was confirmed” said an official from the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Main Directorate for Fighting Extremism and Illegal Migration in response to a request to comment on the situation from Vechernii Bishkek’s correspondent. “Events is Osh indicated the active involvement of Kamalov, with the other 2 men killed, [who were] fighters of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (now the Islamic Movement of Turkestan – editor’s note [from Vechnernii Bishkek]). The connection was not coincidental.

According to the law enforcement structures, the latter 2 were wanted in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan for terrorist activity. They were suspected, among other things, of having attacked a prison in Kairakuum (Tajikistan), during which the head of the isolation unit, Gadoiboev, was killed, and several member of the Islamic Movement of Turkestan and the religious group Bai’at were freed.

The day before yesterday during the operation in Osh to neutralise them [the extremists], law enforcement officers confiscated a large quantity of weapons. This included a Kalashnikov machine gun, hundreds of rounds for it and a stand, several grenades, a map of Uzbekistan on which certain places were marked with the word “jihad”, a pair of military binoculars, extremist literature and fake passports.

The special forces carried out the operation with colleagues from Uzbekistan, as the press service of the Council for National Security of the Kyrgyz Republic reported.

Kamalov’s relatives disagree with the allegation that he was connected with underground activists and are demanding a thorough investigation into what happened.

Oibek Khamidov.

Ataman Rankin’s comments on yesterday’s post are well worth a look for more background and links.