Kyrgyz authorities say they have detained a Russian citizen on suspicion of recruiting Kyrgyz nationals to fight for the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in Iraq and Syria.
Bishkek City Police Department spokesman Oljobai Kazabaev told RFE/RL on August 26 that the suspect was detained after police found a grenade, ammunition, and IS propaganda materials in his apartment in the capital.
The suspect's identity has not been disclosed, although Kazabaev revealed that the man was born in 1973 in Russia's North Caucasus.
Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said earlier this month that some 600 Kyrgyz nationals had joined extremist groups in Syria and Iraq in recent years, including more than 100 women.
More than 70 Kyrgyz citizens who joined extremists in the two Middle Eastern countries have been killed, according to the UKMK.
