11 militants killed near Kyrgyz-Chinese border

Eleven militants were killed by Kyrgyz troops near the border with China on Thursday, according to the Kyrgyz border service. The masked militants, carrying hunting rifles and knives, were spotted in Pikertyk, some 40 kms from the Kyrgyz-Chinese border, by camp ranger Alexander Barykin, who was brutally killed by them, State Border Service chief Raimberdiev Duyshembiev told a press conference here Friday. Border guards responded to the killing by locating and surrounding the gunmen. All the militants were killed in a gunfight after they refused to surrender, he said. The Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry said earlier that Kyrgyzstan and China were working closely in the fight against the "three evil forces" of separatism, extremism and terrorism. The Chinese Embassy in Kyrgyzstan said the militants killed in the incident could not be identified until investigations concluded