ASTANA. June 1 (Interfax) - The deaths of the 15-soldier contingent of a border post in a mountainous part of Kazakhstan and fire that destroyed buildings on its premises are "a terrorist act," Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said, expressing suspicion the tragedy was "the result of internal conflicts."
On Wednesday, a border guard detail from the Sary Bokter border guard post in the Usharal district, Almaty region, found the nearby Arkankergen border post to have been destroyed by fire and its entire personnel to be dead. Arkankergen is manned by 15 servicemen in summertime.
"A tragedy has taken place at the Arkankergen border guard post in the Almaty region, in the eastern part of our country, as a result of which 15 people - 14 border guards and one courier - were killed. I consider it a terrorist act," Nazarbayev said at a conference with top law enforcement officials.
"It was probably the result of internal conflicts. But it's too early to say so," he said.
"The soldiers' barracks and the officers' building were burned down, and the dead bodies were found when the rubble was being dug through," the president said. "When these kinds of incidents occur in peacetime, they need to be investigated as carefully as possible."