2011 Aktobe bombing
The 2011 Aktobe Bombing was a terrorist attack in the city of Aktobe, Kazakhstan on May 17, 2011. The attacker entered the headquarters of the Kazakhstani security services in the oblast and set off a suicide bomb, killing himself and injuring two others. Initially, the bombing was blamed on "organized crime" in what was considered the first mafia-related suicide bombing in history. Some newspapers say, that Rakhimjan Makhatov, the bomber, was a member of organized criminal group. However, Kazakhstani officials eventually conceded that the attack was probably linked to Islamic extremists in the oil-rich province. The attack marked the opening of a violent summer in Kazakhstan's west, during which multiple attacks claimed the lives of a combined 19 people.
