By empty (2/28/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The number of troops in Chechnya is being scaled down, the republic\'s President Alu Alkhanov told a news conference at the Interfax central office in Moscow. \"The number of military units is being reduced. In particular, a decision was taken at a recent session of the regional operational headquarters for the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus chaired by Arkady Yedelev to close down ten checkpoints,\" he said.

By empty (2/27/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Interior Minister Baurzhan Mukhamedzhanov announced at a briefing in Astana on 27 February that Erzhan Utembaev, head of the administration of the Senate, ordered the killing of opposition leader Altynbek Sarsenbaev out of \"personal enmity.\" Utembaev has been arrested in connection with the killing of Sarsenbaev, whose body was discovered on 13 February. Mukhamedzhanov said that the kidnapping and actual killing was carried out by five rogue members of the National Security Committee\'s Arystan special-forces unit and that Rustam Ibragimov, a former law-enforcement officer, oversaw the whole operation, which included the killing of Sarsenbaev\'s bodyguard and his driver.

By empty (2/17/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Omurbek Tekebaev officially resigned from his post as speaker of Kyrgyzstan\'s parliament on 27 February. Parliament, which had previously failed to confirm his resignation, accepted Tekebaev\'s decision, with 53 legislators voting in favor. Tekebaev initially offered his resignation after referring to President Kurmanbek Bakiev as a \"dog.