Kyrgyz security forces have killed a man suspected of being a member of a banned Islamist militant group, a security official said on Monday. A spokesman for Kyrgyzstan’s SNB security service said Rasul Akhunov had been killed during a special operation in the southern town of Osh on Saturday. The spokesman said Akhunov was one of the leaders of the Islamic Party of Turkestan, an underground group accused by the authorities of trying to oust the country’s secular government and set up a pan-Central Asian Islamic caliphate – a theocratic state governed by strict Islamic laws. The spokesman added Akhunov had taken part in gang raids on Kyrgyz and Tajik border posts in May and killed a number of customs officials and border guards. Southern Kyrgyzstan lies along a heroin-trafficking route where crime-related shootouts are commonplace, although there has been a notable upsurge in violence in recent months.
Security forces have blamed the Islamic Party of Turkestan and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan for staging what they call terrorist acts in the area and have stepped up operations against suspected militants. The two groups are classified as terrorist groups by Russia and the United States. The guerrillas of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan fought in Afghanistan alongside Taliban forces. Security analysts say the movement was largely ruined by the U.S.-led campaign there.