Bishkek, 1 August 2001 (RFE/RL) -- Kyrgyz police today said armed attackers have fired upon a police post near the border with Uzbekistan. Batken regional Interior Ministry chief Sheishenbek Baizakov said the group, which he said were possibly rebels from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, fired on an Interior Ministry post yesterday.
It was not clear if anyone was injured in the attack some 35 km from the city Kyzyl Kia.
Kyrgyz officials say members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan -- who they believe are based in neighboring Tajikistan and Afghanistan -- want to carve out an Islamic state in a valley that straddles three Central Asian states.
The incident follows two assaults on Kyrgyz border posts last week, although Kyrgyzstan's national security service chief Bolot Dzhanuzakov has said the identities of those attackers were not clear.
It was not clear if anyone was injured in the attack some 35 km from the city Kyzyl Kia.
Kyrgyz officials say members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan -- who they believe are based in neighboring Tajikistan and Afghanistan -- want to carve out an Islamic state in a valley that straddles three Central Asian states.
The incident follows two assaults on Kyrgyz border posts last week, although Kyrgyzstan's national security service chief Bolot Dzhanuzakov has said the identities of those attackers were not clear.