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US warns of possible terror strikes in Kyrgyzstan
Tue May 6,10:25
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US
State Department has warned that extreme Islamic
groups may be planning terrorist attacks against US
citzens or interests in Kyrgyzstan.
In a public announcement, the department alerted
Americans that radicals such as the Islamic Movement
of Uzbekistan (IMU), which it described as "a
terrorist organization with links to al-Qaeda" could
be planning attacks.
"US citizens are urged to consider their safety and
security before traveling to the Kyrgyz Republic," it
said.
"The US Government has learned the IMU has become
increasingly active in Central Asia," the advisory
said.
"There are indications that extremists may be planning
a range of terrorist attacks targeting US interests in
the Kyrgyz Republic. The US Embassy in Bishkek
continues to observe heightened security precautions."
The department had warned on April 5 that the IMU,
Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and the Eastern
Turkistan Islamic Movement could be plotting attacks
on hotels and US interests in neighboring Uzbekistan.
Travel by US government personnel to areas of the
Kyrgyz-Tajik and Kyrgyz-Uzbek borders is currently
restricted, Tuesday's advisory said.
The IMU, which is seeking to create an Islamic state
in secular Uzbekistan, was believed to have been
largely destroyed by the US-led military action that
toppled the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001.
In 1999 and 2000, the group was particularly active
and is held responsible for a series of bomb blasts in
the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, that killed 16 people as
well as several attacks in Kyrgyzstan, including ones
in which four Japanese geologists and several US
mountain climbers were taken hostage.
The statement did not say what the indications were
that the IMU had had a resurgence.
The East Turkistan Islamic Movement is a Uighur
extremist movement based in China's far western
Xinjiang province, designated a terrorist organisation
by the US State Department last year.
The mountainous Central Asian republic of 4.9 million
people has hosted US troops at Manas airbase, near
Bishkek, since the country was used as a staging post
for US-led military operations in Afghanistan in 2001.
But the government of President Askar Akayev has
trodden a fine line between support for the United
States and deference to its former Soviet master
Moscow, which also has troops based in Kyrgyzstan.
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