BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — A clash on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan raised fears of further unrest in the Ferghana Valley of Central Asia.
Kyrgyzstan’s border guards say they fired in the air after coming under attack from residents of an Uzbek enclave located inside Kyrgyzstan, but they acknowledge that three Uzbek citizens were hit by gunfire. Uzbekistan says that five of its citizens were wounded.
The weekend clash also led to the seizing of 30 Kyrgyz hostages, but Kyrgyzstan says they were all freed unharmed on Monday.
The Uzbek citizens living in the Sokh enclave were angered when Kyrgyz border guards began to install new electrical power lines that inadvertently crossed into Uzbek territory.
The tensions are a reminder of the deadly ethnic violence that shook southern Kyrgyzstan in 2010.
