Alleged Members Of Banned Islamic Group Arrested In Kyrgyzstan

JALAL-ABAD, Kyrgyzstan -- Six alleged members of the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic group have been arrested in Kyrgyzstan's southern province of Jalal-Abad.

Regional police said on April 7 that the suspects had been arrested in Suzak district after police found books and electronic material with extremist content in Uzbek and Arabic in their houses.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is a London-based Sunni political organization that seeks to unite all Muslim countries into an Islamic caliphate.

The Kyrgyz government and some other former Soviet republics have banned the group, branding its members and supporters as "extremists."

In recent months, Kyrgyz law enforcement authorities in southern regions of Jalal-Abad and Osh have detained dozens of alleged members of extremist religious groups suspected of recruiting fighters for Islamic insurgency in Syria.