BISHKEK, July 14 (RIA Novosti) - Kyrgyz security forces have smashed a terrorist ring that sought to destabilize the situation in the Fergana Valley, a senior national security official said Friday.
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, which share the strategically key Fergana Valley, have seen a rise in Islamist extremism and popular unrests fueled by economic difficulties following the breakup of the Soviet Union.
"The main goal of this terrorist group was to carry out a series of bomb attacks in the south of the country, incite interethnic conflicts, and destabilize the situation in the entire Fergana Valley," Oitalbek Osmonov said.
He said the operation was carried out with the Alfa commando unit under the overall command of National Security Service Director Buzurmankul Tabaldiyev.
Osmonov said members of the terrorist group had been involved in bomb attacks in Tashkent and Bishkek, as well as in killing a Kyrgyz police officer on July 12.
He said five terrorists had been killed and one security service officer injured in the operation.
