Photo: Nur.kz

The President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev announced the evacuation from Syria of 47 citizens of Kazakhstan, including 30 children, most of whom are aged one to five years, and 11 women.

"On January 6, as a result of a humanitarian operation carried out with my instruction, the law enforcement agencies and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from Syria evacuated citizens of Kazakhstan. They were fraudulently taken to this country in crisis where they were held hostage by terrorists. Women and children were given all possible assistance from the state. These innocent people who found themselves in such a difficult situation were immensely glad for their salvation", - noted head of state.

According to official data, last summer, about 800 citizens of Kazakhstan have left for Syria and Iraq since the beginning of the war in the Middle East. Most of them are children. “As of July, there are 120 Kazakhstani men, more than 250 women and 500 minor children in the international terrorist organizations in Syria and Iraq”, - noted  the KNB.

In addition, a representative of the Committee for the Protection of Children's Rights of the Ministry of Education and Science told a month ago that 91 children had returned from Syria to Kazakhstan over the past two years.

"The Qazaq Times"