RELIGION-EID/KYRGYZSTAN Kyrgyz Muslims observe Eid holiday, a day after deadly firefights in capital

Record ID: 146683

  • Title: RELIGION-EID/KYRGYZSTAN Kyrgyz Muslims observe Eid holiday, a day after deadly firefights in capital
  • Date: 17th July 2015
  • Summary: BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN (JULY 17, 2015) (REUTERS) PEOPLE GATHERING IN BISHKEK'S OLD SQUARE IN FRONT OF PARLIAMENT BUILDING KYRGYZSTAN SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT, ASYLBEK JEENBEKOV, WALKING OFFICIALS SHAKING HANDS WITH IMAMS VARIOUS OF CROWDS SITTING IN OLD SQUARE, LISTENING TO SERMON OF IMAM MUFTI OF KYRGYZSTAN, MAKSATBEK AJI TOKTOMUSHEV, DELIVERING SERMON (SOUNDBITE) (Kyrgyz) MUFT
  • Embargoed: 1st August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kyrgyzstan
  • Country: Kyrgyzstan
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA8NWZGGA9HNG5NVCAVOK1IG2WF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Muslims in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek on Friday (July 17) celebrated the first day of Eid al-Fitr, just a day after security forces said they had killed six gunmen in two clashes, stoking fears of the spread of militancy in the politically turbulent region.
    The three-day Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar.
    Worshippers gathered at Bishkek's old square in front of the parliament and government buildings to take part in mass Eid prayer, just about a mile (1.5 km.) away from Gorky Street area, where on Thursday (July 16) bursts of machinegun fire and explosions were reported to have rang out.
    Kyrgyz National Security Committee said Thursday (July 16) attacks were the actions of a group "preparing a terrorist attack". Authorities in the mostly Muslim nation have said they are worried about the risk of locals joining militant groups in Iraq and Syria, then returning to mount attacks at home.
    The Mufti of Kyrgyzstan Makstatbek Aji Toktomushev, delivering a special sermon to worshippers, condemned extremism and urged young people not to join militant groups.
    "The enemies of Islam created terrorism, it was created to desecrate Islam, for Muslims to spill the blood of Muslims. My dear Muslims, my dear people - and especially a request to the youth - do not make terrorism and extremism your religion. There is no need for you to go abroad. We must be wiser, Islam is a religion of goodness. Terrorism has not homeland, no religion and no borders. Therefore, my dear Muslim brothers, we must shrink away from spilling human blood. Because this angers Allah so greatly that he may destroy the heavens and the earth seven times over," the mufti said.
    Kyrgyzstan's Interior Ministry has said it knows of more than 350 Kyrgyz citizens who have gone to fight for the Islamic State group in Syria, more than 30 of whom have died.
    Kyrgyzstan remains ethnically and culturally divided between its more developed north and a much poorer south, densely populated by ethnic Uzbeks.
    Fears of militancy have been echoed by Russia, which has a military airbase in the country, and by governments of other former Soviet republics in Central Asia.
    Kyrgyzstan also lies on a drug trafficking route out of Afghanistan. Two presidents have been deposed since 2005 and hundreds were killed in inter-ethnic bloodshed in the south in 2010.
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