On 16 July, Bishkek was quiet. A dense cloud of smoke gathering on the outskirts of the city was the only indication that something unusual was going on. Taking it for a fire in a remote location, the city’s inhabitants went about their business as usual. No-one knew that the cloud was actually the result of a heavy exchange of fire between Kyrgyz special forces, the police and a number of armed men hidden in a suburban house.
The shootings left four gunmen dead. Two more had reportedly been killed earlier that day, and five men were detained. Some of the members of the special forces had also been wounded, but no civilians were hurt. The dead included both Kyrgyz and Kazakh nationals. Not long after, it was reported that the clash had been an anti-terrorist operation, undertaken against a Central Asian cell of Islamic State (IS). The group had reportedly been planning a terrorist attack in Kyrgyzstan to coincide with the end of Ramadan prayers on 17 July.
Theories and unanswered questions
As soon as the news reached the media, rumour and various conspiracy theories started circulating. Some thought the US was behind it, others - Russia. For the majority of people, the IS narrative didn’t ring true: many believed it had been deliberately fabricated by the authorities.
