Kyrgyzstan says it has recently uncovered 30 cases of attempts to recruit fighters to the Islamic State (IS) group.
Kyrgyz Interior Ministry official Raim Salimov said on February 13 that "30 recruitment attempts have been uncovered in preventative operations in the Kara-Suu district of Osh Province in the past 10 days."
The influential imam at a large mosque in the southern town of Kara-Suu was arrested earlier this week for allegedly calling for the creation of a caliphate and urging people to go to Syria to join Islamic fighters there.
Salimov said authorities have organized numerous meetings with people as part of a campaign to prevent attempts by extremist groups to recruit potential fighters in Kyrgyzstan.
Authorities say more than 200 Kyrgyz nationals, including some 30 women, have joined the IS group in Syria.
