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Militants Target Police in Kyrgzstan

06 January 2011 01:36 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. At least three policemen and a police commando have been killed in Kyrgyzstan by suspected Islamic militants, APA reports quoting â€œThe Voice of Americaâ€.

The three policemen were killed late Tuesday in the capital, Bishkek, while checking documents. A police commando was killed on Wednesday when commandos attacked a house where the militants alleged to be involved in Tuesday’s incident were hiding out.

At least two militants were reportedly killed in the operation, which took place in a village outside the capital.

In December, Kyrgyzstan’s parliament approved a new government, ending months of political uncertainty and violence.

Social Democrat Party leader, Almazbek Atambayev, was named the Central Asian country’s new prime minister, forming a government with three of the five parties that won parliamentary seats in October elections.

Under recently approved political reforms, parliament becomes the country’s main center of power. Future presidents will be limited to a single six-year term.

The political developments follow months of uncertainty after ethnic riots between Kyrgyz and Uzbek communities in the south of the country in June that left hundreds of mostly minority Uzbeks dead. The violence followed disturbances in April, which ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and forced him to flee the country.

An interim government headed by former foreign minister Rosa Otunbayeva replaced the ousted leader.

Kyrgyzstan hosts an important U.S. air base that serves as a key link supplying U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan.