Kyrgyzstan Says Slain Militants Were Uzbek Nationals

BISHKEK (RFE/RL) -- A Kyrgyz parliament deputy has said that five armed individuals killed by Kyrgyz national security forces near Jalal-Abad on June 23 were citizens of neighboring Uzbekistan, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.

Rashid Tagaev said the Uzbek citizens might have trained in terrorist camps in Pakistan. He said a large amount of explosives and ammunition was found in the house, indicating they were preparing a significant terrorist attack.

Investigators are trying to determine how and when the Uzbek citizens managed to enter Kyrgyzstan.

The five armed men refused to surrender to security forces on June 23 and opened fire from a house in the village of Tashbulak in Kyrgyzstan's southern Jalal-Abad region.

All of them were killed.