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Kyrgyz police launch fresh raid to detain ex-president: MP
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, Aug 8, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Police and security services
in Kyrgyzstan launched a fresh raid on Thursday to detain former president
Almazbek Atambayev at his residence, an MP told AFP, as a political crisis
deepened in the fragile Central Asian country.
“A second raid has just begun,” said lawmaker Irina Karamushkina, an
Atambayev ally.
Karamushkina told AFP that around 1,000 law enforcement officers were
taking part in the raid, while more than 1,000 Atambayev supporters were
defending the residence in the village of Koi-Tash near the capital Bishkek.
“They are ready to defend the former president to the end,” Karamushkina
told AFP.
Special forces failed Wednesday to capture the former president in a raid
on his compound which left one officer dead and a police chief in a critical
condition.
The former Soviet nation, which has seen two revolutions in less than two
decades, has been roiled by a standoff between ex-leader Atambayev and his
protege-turned-foe President Sooronbai Jeenbekov.
BSS/AFP/RY/1735 hrs