Postcard from Bishkek

After the Batken Incidents of 1999 and 2000, the extreme South-Western corner of the Kyrgyzstan settled into a period of peace and calm.  The Kyrgyz government created a new regional administration – the Batken oblast – hiving off the region and separating it from Osh in order to strengthen the local administration, help combat poverty in the region and improve the response capabilities in the event of the incursion being repeated.

In May, 2006 however, there was another incident in the border regions of Batken oblast … It was not clear if the group involved were Islamic militants, part of a drug smuggling gang, or simply a criminal gang – and both Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan claimed that the incident had originated in the other country.

Early in the morning of May 12th, (at around two o’clock), a group of six people attacked a Tajik border post in the Isfara region, and about four hours later the Kyrgyz “Akturpak” border post was also attacked.  In this assault a customs officer and a civilian were killed.  Later two cars were found: one near the settlement of Karabak – in which a mask and blood stains were discovered; the second near to another border post and a search revealed a small of arms, some sleeping bags and a high-powered radio.  The occupants had apparently tried to escape in a south westerly direction.

During the morning, troops pursued the gang – killing one, (who had been armed with a machine gun), who was later identified as a 28 year old Takjik citizen.  Shortly afterwards, another member of the group was captured – he was said to be heavily under the influence of drugs and armed with a number of Kalashnikov sub-machine guns.

A Special Task Group had been formed comprising local troops, others brought in from the capital Bishkek and local law enforcement bodies – and searches continued on both sides of the border. In the mid-afternoon a small group of the armed gang were located and a fire fight ensued.  The gang held the high ground – and they inflicted casualties on the Kyrgyz troops.  Although one was captured, the others were killed as the battle proceeded into the early evening.

The incident came as a great surprise … although there were some tensions between the various nationalities in the region, no-one seemed to have expected another such outburst in the region.  A special session of the Kyrgyz parliament (Jogorku Kenesh) was held to discuss the matter and questions were asked about the preparedness of the troops to deal with such an incident.  The number of casualties amongst the government forces was felt to be extremely high.