(8 Sep 2000) Natural Sound
XFA
Fighting between Islamic rebels and government troops continues in the mountain areas of Kyrgyzstan.
The battles that started in the beginning of August have been especially fierce in the past three days.
At night, federal troops have been successful in destroying a number of rebels' bases in Batkinsky region of the republic.
Suffering great losses, rebels quickly moved in the mountains, not even having enough time to bury their dead.
Many of the rebels fighting for Islamic groups on the territory of Kyrgyzstan are believed to have been trained and previously fought on the territory of Chechnya.
In an exclusive interview with APTN, Kyrgyz Interior Minister Omurbek Kutuev said that the government troops detained rebels who were travelling from various parts of the former Soviet Union to fight in Kyrgyzstan.
SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"We have detained one rebel who was travelling though Russia and Kazakhstan (to Kyrgyzstan), I believe his last name is Badalov. The other one is a citizen of Uzbekistan who was trained and was fighting in Chechnya also came here to fight. We have concrete facts about rebels who were trained in Chechnya and who are now fighting here, it is not rumours. Also we know that there are Chechens themselves fighting for these bandit groups (in Kyrgyzstan)."
SUPER CAPTION: Omurbek Kutuev, Kyrgyz Interior Minister
Last month, groups of Islamic militants infiltrated through Tajikistan into mountainous areas where borders of
Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan converge and engaged the government troops during the weeks of fierce fighting.
Uzbek and Kyrgyz officials said the militants aim to carve out an Islamic state in the region and were backed by Afghanistan's Taliban.
Worried about the escalation of the conflict, Russia has promised to send weapons to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to help them defeat the militants.
There has been no word about sending the Russian troops to Central Asia to join the fighting.
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