MOSCOW (AP) - The Latest on a special forces operation to arrest the former president of Kyrgyzstan (all times local):
10:10 p.m.
Kyrgyzstan’s Health Ministry says a serviceman died during an operation to arrest the country’s ex-president.
In a statement reported by the Central Asian country’s official news agency, the ministry said the special forces member had been shot.
The ministry said early Thursday that 35 other people have been injured.
Special forces moved in to arrest former president Almazbek Atambayev on corruption charges at his residence south of the Kyrgyz capital.
Hundreds of his supporters are trying to defend Atambayev’s residential compound in the village of Koi-Tash, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) away from Bishkek.
___
6:00 p.m.
Gunfire is being heard outside the residence of the former president of Kyrgyzstan as police move in to try to arrest him.
The Kyrgyz news site 24.kg said several people, including journalists, have been wounded in the Wednesday shooting in the village of Koi-Tash, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the capital, Bishkek.
The Central Asian nation’s parliament in June rescinded the autonomy that Almazbek Atambayev was accorded as former president of the country. He is accused of a range of crimes including corruption and expropriation of property.
Atambayev, who was in office from 2011 to 2017, says the charges have been concocted by President Soorobai Jeenbekov, who was once his protégé.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.