The Uzbek Embassy in Almaty has issued a statement accusing the Kazakh media of biased reporting about recent incidents along the two countries\' border. The embassy asserted that the Kazakh media have been carrying reports that reflect negatively the state of Kazakh-Uzbek relations, and that \"certain people\" in Kazakhstan are trying to use the border incidents for \"populist or other narrow political ends,\" thereby creating tensions and provoking anti-Uzbek sentiments. The embassy warned that irresponsible statements by Kazakh officials could combine with media bias to worsen relations and, possibly, to inflame tensions in border areas. The statement, which was presumably a response to reporting on a shooting incident on the border in early September, was read to journalists by Uzbek Ambassador to Kazakhstan Turdykul Botayorov. (Interfax-Kazakhstan)