Three Islamist extremists killed in Kyrgyzstan: police

The three were killed in an operation that started on Saturday evening in the village of Kosh-Korgon of the country's Uzgensky district, said the Uzgensky district police chief, Kursantbek Asanov.

“The operation began the evening of June 27 after the militants refused to surrender and put down their arms.... Three militants were eliminated during the shootout,” Asanov told reporters.

The militants may have been linked to a group of five radical Islamists killed outside Jalal-Abad on June 22-23, which Kyrgyz authorities said were members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), Asanov said.

The IMU is a militant group with ties to Al-Qaeda that is often cited as a top security concern by governments in ex-Soviet Central Asia.

Kyrgyzstan's operations against Islamist militants have taken place near the country's border with Uzbekistan, across from an Uzbek border region that saw gunbattles and a suicide bombing last month.

An impoverished former Soviet republic that borders China, Kyrgyzstan is due to hold presidential elections on July 23 and political tensions have increased in the run-up to the vote.

Last week Kyrgyzstan agreed to let the United States keep using an airbase used to support international military efforts in nearby Afghanistan, after earlier demanding that the base be closed.

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