Uzbek border guards shot Kazakh fisherman dead - media
ALMATY. June 30 (Interfax) - Uzbek border guards opened fire on a boat carrying Kazakh fishermen on the Syrdarya River, killing one of them, the KTK television station has reported.
"Last night, a village located near the border was startled by gunfire heard from the direction of its neighbors. A fisherman has already been found dead on the bank of the Syrdarya River. The second fisherman survived and is now testifying," according to a report published on the TV channel's website.
KTK has said that the man killed was a father of seven who earned his living by fishing. He and another fisherman went fishing last night.
"The survivor recalls that Uzbek border guards opened fire in their direction without any warning. The preliminary information available indicates that ten shots were fired," the TV station said.
Kazakhstan's Border Guard Service told the TV channel that Kazakh border guards heard gunfire last night and rushed to the bank of the Syrdarya River, where they found a motorboat with an apparently dead man lying inside.
"Uzbek special services claim that the fishermen illegally crossed the border and were fishing in foreign territory. But the survivor assures us that they sailed no more than ten meters away from the coast and could not have reached foreign territory," the television station said.