By empty (7/21/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry formally protested to Uzbekistan about the shooting of a Kyrgyz citizen by an Uzbek border guard on 16 July. On 19 July, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry announced that Kyrgyzstan was responsible for the incident. According to the Uzbek version of the incident, some 40 Kyrgyz citizens attempted to cross the border illegally and threw stones and bottles containing flammable substances at Uzbek border guards who tried to stop them.
The Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry formally protested to Uzbekistan about the shooting of a Kyrgyz citizen by an Uzbek border guard on 16 July. On 19 July, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry announced that Kyrgyzstan was responsible for the incident. According to the Uzbek version of the incident, some 40 Kyrgyz citizens attempted to cross the border illegally and threw stones and bottles containing flammable substances at Uzbek border guards who tried to stop them. The Uzbek side asserts that the border guards only fired into the air, and a number of the guards were injured by the aggressive actions of the Kyrgyz. According to the Kyrgyz version, four young men crossed the border to talk to Uzbek border guards about building a bridge across the stream that forms the border, a quarrel broke out, and one Kyrgyz citizen, Adil Urkinbaev, was killed. (RFE/RL)