----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, August 16, 2000 7:55 AM Subject: [STOPNATO] UZB, KYR, TJK consider air-strikes on Islamists... STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.COM Central Asian Leaders Discuss Air Strikes on Rebels BISHKEK, Aug 15, 2000 -- (Reuters) Kyrgyzstan said on Monday it and two other Central Asian states were considering launching air strikes on rebels from Tajikistan who have clashed with government troops in the region in the last week. Presidential spokesman Osmonakun Ibraimov told reporters the governments of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and neighboring Uzbekistan were discussing air raids on mountain bases where thousands of Islamic militiamen are thought to be holed up. Dozens of rebels and government troops were killed in clashes over the weekend in both Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan after the rebels crossed from Tajikistan last week. The rebels are believed to be members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, opposed to Uzbek President Islam Karimov. Last year a similar group believed to be based in Tajikistan invaded Kyrgyzstan, taking several hostages. Iranian radio monitored by the British Broadcasting Corporation said the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan had demanded that the Uzbek government release its supporters from prison, rehabilitate places of worship and allow Islamic dress. It said the fighting would continue until Islamic sharia law was established in Uzbekistan. Ibraimov said Uzbekistan had offered its air force for use against the rebels, who are operating in mountainous territory where the borders of the three former Soviet republics intersect. "(The air force) would be essential. But the situation is highly complex as we're talking about other countries - Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Talks are still going on." ARMY SAYS REBEL LOSSES HEAVY The Kyrgyz Defence Minister Esen Topoyev told state TV that Kyrgyzstan's army on Sunday pinned down rebels on its border with Tajikistan and inflicted heavy losses. "From the moment bandit formations appeared on the Toru pass (on the border) our units started to wipe them out. The bandit groups are pinned down in three places, the position is complicated, and they are suffering losses," he said. Official Kyrgyz sources said more than 10 government soldiers and over 30 rebels had been killed. There were no figures for wounded. Kyrgyz television said planes carrying munitions and fresh troops were landing at Batken, a regional center some 175-km (110 miles) from the fighting. It said refugees, mostly women and children, had started leaving villages nearby. Kyrgyz parliamentary deputy Tursunbai Bakir Uulu told Reuters the rebels could call on the help of gunmen from the Islamic opposition in Tajikistan, from Afghanistan, the Russian region of Chechnya and even India. Uulu, who took part in talks with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan after it invaded Kyrgyzstan in 1999, told Reuters the movement numbered 6,000 to 7,000 members. Regional leaders, Western governments and Russia have accused Afghanistan's ruling Taleban of harboring Islamic rebels bent on toppling secular rulers in neighboring ex-Soviet states. The Kyrgyz, Tajik and Uzbek presidents are due to attend a meeting of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States in the Ukrainian resort of Yalta on August 18 and 19 and discuss regional security with Russian President Vladimir Putin. (C)2000 Copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters Limited. ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb
