Kyrgyzstan: Hunt for IMU Militants Ongoing in Batken Province

Search-and-destroy operations designed to contain militants belonging to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) are continuing in Kyrgyzstan's Batken Province, according to Rasul Raimberdiev, the deputy interior minister responsible for southern Kyrgyzstan.

There has been an upsurge in IMU activity along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border in recent weeks. Four militants were killed in a firefight in the Tajik town of Isfara on October 18, another four were captured in the Vorukh enclave on October 19.

Raimberdiev said as many as 20 militants may have slipped into Batken Province. Tajik and Kyrgyz security forces are conducting regular sweeps of the border. Twelve additional border observation posts have been established in recent weeks, Raimberdiev told the Akipress news agency on October 22.

The detained militants reportedly told their interrogators the group comprised of 14 men. "[But] as our Tajik colleagues report, the armed group probably amounts to about 30 people," Raimberdiev added.