One Wounded In Shooting Along Uzbek-Kyrgyz Border

January 19, 2015

Kyrgyz border guards have shot and wounded an Uzbek hunter discovered on the territory of Kyrgyzstan.

The press service for the Kyrgyzstan State Border Service said on January 19 that a Kyrgyz border guard unit discovered three hunters from Uzbekistan in the Ala-Bukinsk district on January 18.

The Kyrgyz guards ordered the Uzbek hunters to put down their weapons and surrender.

Kyrgyz news agencies reported that the Uzbeks opened fire on the Kyrgyz border guards and that one Uzbek national was wounded when Kyrgyz guards returned fire.

The wounded man was being treated at a Kyrgyz medical facility.

The other two Uzbek hunters were apprehended by Uzbek border guards as they tried to cross back into Uzbekistan.

It was the second incident involving Kyrgyz border guards recently.

On January 16, unknown people attacked a Kyrgyz border post not far from the Tajik border, killing one border guard and wounding two others.

The Kyrgyz government's special representative for border issues, Kurbanbay Iskanderov, described that incident as an "internal conflict."

Based on reporting by Vecherny Bishkek, 24.kg, and AKIpress