- BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan: The head of Kyrgyzstan’s security services says 11 people have been detained on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks and authorities are seeking another eight suspects believed to belong to the same Islamic militant group.
National Security Service chief Keneshbek Duishebayev said Tuesday that the suspects arrested in southern Kyrgyzstan over the weekend had undergone training at camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Duishebayev says attacks were planned to foment instability ahead of presidential elections scheduled for Oct. 30.
Police and the military have been placed on high alert to minimize possible outbreaks of violence before the vote.
The impoverished Central Asian nation has been convulsed by unrest since President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was unseated in an uprising in April 2010.
