ASTANA. July 13 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbyev has called for concrete measures to be taken to counter terrorist and extremist groups operating in the republic.
"We have to admit that radical extremist elements in the country are exerting full-scale pressure on the state and the society as a whole. People are outraged by the inability of law enforcement agencies to prevent all these crimes. Officers get killed because of unprofessionalism. We have been unable to prevent such crimes beforehand because work is not done properly," Nazarbayev said at a meeting on combating terrorism and extremism in Astana on Thursday.
The president was quoted in a statement issued by his press office.
"As the president and guarantor of our Constitution, I am not satisfied with the work of law enforcement agencies, particularly that of the National Security Committee. The efforts we are making are not efficient enough," Nazarbayev said.
"There was an explosion, people were killed in the Karasai district in the Almaty region yesterday. According to preliminary reports, a large arsenal of weapons and explosive substances was found at the scene. And again we are acting post factum all the time. All this requires us to make a thorough analysis and take concrete measures to suppress and prevent activities of terrorist and extremist elements," the Kazakh president said.