The 2016 Aktobe shootings were a spate of three attacks targeting civilians and Kazakh Army personnel in Aktobe, western Kazakhstan, that took place from 5 to 6 June 2016. A group of over 20 Islamic State-affiliated assailants killed six people and wounded nine soldiers before 11 of them were killed and seven captured; the rest ran away.
Attack[]
On 5 June 2016, at the same time as anti-government protests in Kazakhstan (caused by the plunge in oil prices), a group of at least 16 attackers robbed two gun shops early on 5 June 2016, killing a guard and clerk at one shop and a civilian at another. Three attackers were killed in a shootout with police that left three policemen wounded, and the surviving attackers hijacked a bus and crashed the gates to a national guard base, which they attacked next. Three servicemen were killed there and nine wounded, and one attacker was killed in the base shootout; seven attackers were arrested. The following night, the police hunted down the militants, killing five more militants and arresting two. Six or seven more attackers were still at large, prompting the police to continue the manhunt for the attackers. At the same time, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks.