Kazakhstan Updates List Of Banned Terrorist Groups

(RFE/RL) October 12, 2006 -- The office of Kazakhstan's prosecutor-general has released an updated list of 12 organizations that it says are banned on the basis of terrorist activities.

The list, which was approved by the Supreme Court, includes a number of Central Asian-based separatist, or religious movements.

Among them are the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan; Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami; the Jamaat of Central Asian Mujahedins; and the Islamic Party of Eastern Turkestan, an Uyghur separatist group.

Also banned in Kazakhstan are the Kongra-Gel Kurdish organization, the Boz Kurt (Gray Wolves) Turkic right-wing group, Pakistan's Lashkar-e Taiba, Kuwait's Social Reforms Society, and Lebanon's Asbat an-Ansar Palestinian group.

Al-Qaeda, Afghanistan's Taliban former ruling militia, and the Muslim Brotherhood are also included in the list.

(Kazakhstan Today, Interfax-Kazakhstan)