Today's statement from Kazakhstan's KNB state security service said law enforcement officers found homemade explosives, detonators and extremist literature when they made the arrests.
Kazakhstan has seen an uptick in deadly incidents this year attributed by the authorities to radical Islamists.
Twenty people were killed in the city of Aktobe in June when gunmen attacked a military base and a gun shop. Three people, including two police officers, were shot by militants in Almaty the following month.