BISHKEK, October 20 (RIA Novosti) - Four hostages, including the chairman of the law and order committee of Kyrgyzstan's parliament, his aide, a bodyguard and an official from a non-governmental human rights organization, have been killed by inmates at a maximum-security penal colony, a source in the republic's penitentiary service said Thursday.
Parliament member Tymychbek Akhmatbayev and other hostages were seized after arriving to inspect the colony, home to 450 inmates who suffer from tuberculosis.
Head of Kyrgyzstan's penitentiary service Ikmatula Polotov, who was accompanying the hostages during the inspection, has been hospitalized after receiving serious injuries.
All colony employees have been evacuated and the colony has been surrounded by special police units.
