Uzbek, Kyrgyz Border Guards Capture Each Other
June 04, 2009
BISHKEK -- Uzbek border guards captured and later released three Kyrgyz soldiers at the entrance to an Uzbek enclave, apparently in retaliation for Kyrgyz guards’ detention and release of two Uzbek soldiers earlier in the day, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.
Officials at Kyrgyzstan's Kadamjay District Police Department told RFE/RL that the incidents took place on June 2 at the Vuadil border crossing near Uzbekistan's Sokh exclave -- a small tract of Uzbek territory within Kyrgyzstan. The officials said the Uzbek soldiers were initially detained for violating Kyrgyz laws.
Most of the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border was closed last week after an armed group attacked police stations in the Uzbek cities of Khanabad and Andijon.
Uzbek officials later charged that the armed group entered Uzbekistan from Kyrgyzstan, a charge that Kyrgyz officials denied. Tensions have been high since the incident.
On June 4, Kyrgyz Border Guard Service officials told RFE/RL that all checkpoints along the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border had resumed their regular operations.