Two bomb attacks appeared to have targeted Kazakh national-security facilities within the span of a week. The first, in which a suspected suicide bomber was the only casualty, struck in the western Kazakh town of Aktobe on May 17. It was thought to be the first-ever such attack in Kazakhstan. The second occurred when an explosive destroyed a car and the two men inside outside a National Security Committee detention center in the capital, Astana, on May 24.
