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Banned Islamic movement raises Kyrgyz police concerns

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BISHKEK, August 30 (RIA Novosti) - A radical Islamic group banned in many countries across the globe has stepped up its activity in Kyrgyzstan, police in the Central Asian country said Wednesday.

Hizb-ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation) has been banned throughout former Soviet Central Asia, as well as in Russia, Germany and many Arab states, over extremism concerns. Although it claims to be a non-violent group, it is dedicated to establishing a united Islamic state, a caliphate, which has engendered particular fears in ex-Soviet republics such as Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Police said supporters of the organization, which was put on the list of most dangerous terrorist organizations both in Russia and the U.S., had been disseminating Tuesday leaflets with religious and extremist slogans throughout the country's capital, Bishkek, and its suburbs.

Comprised mainly from ethnic Uzbeks, the organization previously focused its activity in southern regions of Kyrgyzstan, neighboring Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, police said, adding that concentrating on multiethnic Bishkek was unusual for the radical movement.

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