A world war that only one side acknowledges is being waged.

“Suspected Islamist militant kills five in Kazakhstan,” by Mariya Gordeyeva and Olzhas Auyezov, Reuters, July 18, 2016 (thanks to Cecilia):

A lone gunman with Islamist links killed at least three policemen and two civilians in Kazakhstan’s financial capital Almaty on Monday, senior security officials said, the second such attack in less than two months.

Police detained the attacker, identified as 26-year-old Ruslan Kulikbayev, in a shootout on a busy central street after he had gone on the rampage, attacking a police station and an office belonging to the KNB security service.

Kulikbayev had been imprisoned before for robbery and illegally possessing weapons and had “became close to Salafists” in prison, KNB security service head Vladimir Zhumakanov told a Security Council meeting.

Salafists adhere to an ultra-conservative form of Islam.

The shootings will stoke fears of a growing Islamist threat to the oil-producing nation of 18 million people. Last month, men the authorities said were Islamic State sympathizers attacked gun stores and a military facility, killing seven.

Thousands of nationals from Central Asian nations are known to be fighting alongside Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, and the authorities have long warned they could return and carry out attacks on home soil….