From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Thu Aug 17 2000 - 11:55:20 EDT
KYRGYZ ARMY IN CONTROL OF BATKEN REGION EARLIER CAPTURED BY ISLAMIC
MILITANTS
BISHKEK. Aug 17 (Interfax) - Kyrgyz government troops fully control
those parts of the Batken region in southern Kyrgyzstan earlier captured
by Islamic militants.
Secretary of the republic's Security Council Bolot Dzhanuzakov said
at a Thursday briefing in Bishkek that the fiercest battles raged on
August 16 and early hours of August 17. Seven government servicemen were
killed in the fighting; the militants lost nine.
One serviceman was wounded at the Turo mountain pass, where
"mopping-up" of the area began on Thursday.
Government troops were instructed "to completely destroy all the
invading terrorists," Dzhanuzakov said. "They will be shot down like
jackals."
He spoke about the questioning of a rebel captured on August 14,
saying that the prisoner is from Bashkortostan, where during study at a
Moslem school he was recruited and received military training at
Dushanbe. The unit with which he served invaded Kyrgyzstan from
Tajikistan.
Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev has been keeping in close touch with
his Uzbek and Kazakh counterparts by phone.
Dzhanuzakov also said that a meeting of Central Asian leaders and
Russian President Vladimir Putin upcoming soon will be highly
instrumental in increasing the security of the Central Asian states. At
this meeting, the gathered leaders will draw up an allied strategy
against international terrorism.
|
