Reinforcements head to site of shootout on Kyrgyz-Chinese border
BISHKEK. Jan 23 (Interfax) - A group led by Kyrgyzstan's Deputy Prime Minister Tokon Mamytov has been formed to coordinate security services' operations near the Kyrgyz-Chinese border, where unknown gunmen were trapped after having attacked Kyrgyz border guards.
"An operational center has been established by the government in response to the incident in the sector under the control of Akshiyrak border guard unit where a shootout occurred today between Kyrgyz border guards and unknown persons," the Kyrgyz government's press service told Interfax on Thursday.
Mamytov will coordinate the efforts of different security services.
"The unknown persons who illegally entered our territory have been trapped. Measures are being taken to neutralize them," the press service said.
Reinforcements have been sent to the area following the exchange of fire on Thursday morning, it said.
Security service sources, for their part, have not ruled out that militants from Uyghur Muslim separatist groups could be involved in the incident.
"The information available to us suggests that armed Uyghur militants who fight for Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Province's independence from China might have broken through the border," the sources said.
"None of the border guards were killed in the armed clash with the gunmen," a Kyrgyz State Border Guard Service source told Interfax.
Kyrgyz border guard service spokeswoman Gulmira Borubayeva told Interfax earlier today that a shootout had erupted in the Issyk-Kul district between Kyrgyz border guards and unknown persons, who are suspected of killing a nature preserve employee and seizing his rifle.
Two of the attackers were killed during the exchange of gunfire.