Tashkent demands explanations from Bishkek on shootout in which 2 Uzbek border guards killed
TASHKENT/BISHKEK. July 24 (Interfax) - Tashkent has demanded an explanation from Bishkek concerning an incident at the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border, in which, according to Uzbekistan's account, Kyrgyz border guards illegally crossed the border and killed one Uzbek border guard and wounded another, who later died at the hospital.
"The Uzbek National Security Service's Border Committee urges Kyrgyzstan to give explanations regarding an armed incursion and the use of firearms on Uzbekistan's territory, which constitutes a gross violation of rules of conduct by Kyrgyz border guards at the state border," the Uzbek Border Committee said in a statement.
An Uzbek border unit spotted four Kyrgyz border guards in the community of Sasiksai belonging to the M. Baltabayev Farm at 9:30 a.m. on July 23, the statement says.
The Uzbek border guards several times warned the Kyrgyz servicemen that they had violated the border and entered Uzbek territory, but the Kyrgyz unit did not leave Uzbek territory and used weapons against the Uzbek border guards, it said.
One Uzbek border guard died from wounds at the scene and another was delivered to the Uychi district hospital in the Namangan region, it said.
Bullet shells from the Kyrgyz border guards' weapons and traces of the Uzbek border guards' blood were found some 100 meters into Uzbek territory, it said.
The Uzbek Border Service said it was concerned about increasingly more frequent violations of the border by Kyrgyz border guards.
After this statement was made, reports came that the Uzbek serviceman wounded by Kyrgyz border guards died at the hospital during surgery without regaining consciousness.
"Border Guard Turgun Juraev was delivered to our hospital in critical condition, with a penetrating gunshot wound to his chest. We did all we could, but, unfortunately, we could not save the wounded serviceman's life: the injuries were too severe and proved fatal," said Tolibjon Madumarov, the chief surgeon of the Namangan regional emergency medicine center.
The Kyrgyz Border Service told Interfax earlier that a Kyrgyz border unit encountered two Uzbek border guards who illegally entered Kyrgyz territory. In response to being ordered to leave Kyrgyz territory, the Uzbek border guards engaged in a verbal exchange, which ended with shots being fired. A Kyrgyz Border Service spokesperson insisted that the Uzbek border guards were first to use firearms against the Kyrgyz servicemen.
"One Uzbek border guard was killed and another Uzbek serviceman injured in a shootout. None was harmed on the Kyrgyz side," it said.
