August 06, 2008	Wednesday	Sha’aban 3, 1429

BISHKEK, Aug 5: Kyrgyzstan’s police accused a group of US officials of illegal possession of guns on Tuesday and seized dozens of firearms from their apartment, but the US embassy in the Central Asian state denied the charge.

Washington operates a military base in Kyrgyzstan to support operations in nearby Afghanistan and sees the ex-Soviet nation as a key ally in Central Asia. But their relations have been soured after a string of incidents at the base in the past years.

Kyrgyzstan’s Interior Ministry said police seized six machine guns, 25 assault rifles and a number of smaller firearms late on Monday from a house rented by US officials.

“Illegally possessed firearms and ammunition have been found and seized,” it said in a statement. It added several embassy officials and servicemen were in the house at the time.

The US embassy swiftly denied any wrongdoing, saying all the weapons had been officially registered in Kyrgyzstan.

“These servicemen had been invited to Kyrgyzstan by the Kyrgyz government to carry out anti-terror exercises for the Kyrgyz ministries,” an embassy spokeswoman said in Russian-language remarks.

“We hope this incident will be resolved so that the US and Kyrgyzstan can continue their joint efforts on boosting Kyrgyzstan’s anti-terror potential.”—Reuters