A court in Kazakhstan's central city of Temirtau has sentenced two followers of radical Islam to lengthy jail terms on charges of plotting terror attacks.
Dmitry Nikolayev, a Kazakh citizen, and Adilet Temirkanov, a Kyrgyz citizen, were sentenced to 11 and 8 years in jail respectively.
Nikolayev spent some time in Egypt before joining Islamist fighters in Syria.
Investigators say the two men sought to recruit Kazakh men and women to fight alongside Islamist militants in Syria.
Nikolayev confessed that he planned to organize attacks against a military base and a police station near Temirtau.
Kazakh authorities said some 300 Kazakhs travelled to Syria in 2014 to join the Islamist insurgency.
Kazakhstan has launched several security operations in recent years targeting people suspected of Islamic extremism.
