The Special Forces of the National Security Service (NSS) conducted an anti-terrorist operation with the purpose of eliminating one of the leaders of international terrorist organization �Islamic Party of Turkestan� (IPT), former the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), Rasul Akhunov. The operation took place in one of the densely populated districts of Osh, which is the biggest city in the south of Kyrgyzstan, on September 2. The NSS received information that the IPT leader was staying in a private house in Osh city. The security forces surrounded the house and offered Akhunov to give up voluntarily, but Akhunov refused and responded with gunfire. The group had to storm the house and killed the resisting terrorist.

According to the NSS, the operation was conducted successfully, although one of the members of the special forces was wounded during the storming. After the operation was completed, guns and grenades were found during a search of the house.

The Kyrgyz intelligence service claims that Rasul Akhunov was an organizer of the attacks on the �Lyakkan� border post in Tajikistan, where his group wielded 11 submachine guns, 1 grenade launcher, grenades, and the same day attacked the �Ak-Turpak� border post in the Batken oblast of Kyrgyzstan, where two Kyrgyz border guards were killed. Apart from this, according to the NSS, he planned and organized the explosion in the Osh oblast administration building in December 2005.

It is notable that the trial of six IPT members, who attacked the Tajik and Kyrgyz border posts in May in cooperation with Akhunov, began in the Osh city court on August 28, 2006. As public prosecutor Ryskul Baktybaev stated at the court, these defendants are suspected of attacking the border posts, organizing a gang, and kindling interethnic and religious conflict. According to Baktybaev, the court proceedings will last at least for a month.

Rasul Akhunov (known as �Bahtier,� �Lieutenant,� and �Murod�) was born in 1968 in the Namangan oblast of Uzbekistan. He was wanted for committing serious crimes and organizing terrorist acts on the territory of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Akhunov, along with Juma Namamgani and Tahir Yuldashev, was one of the top five leaders of Islamic Party of Turkestan. Together with Tahir Yuldashev, he was trained in foreign terrorist camps.

Meanwhile, it became known that Akhunov was the fourth passenger traveling in a car that belonged to Imam Muhammadrafik Kamalov on August 6, 2006. That day, Imam Kamalov and two IPT members, Ayubhodji Shahobidinov and Fathullo Rahimov, were killed during a security service anti-terrorist operation in Jalalabad. When the security services demanded the car to stop, it ignored the order. The passengers of the car opened fire. The security responded, and three people in the car were killed. As it turned out, these two terrorists opened fire in order to cover Akhunov. According to the NSS, the role of Imam Kamalov � whether he was a hostage or an accomplice of the terrorists � is still not ascertained.

The head of the NSS, Busurmankul Tabaldiev, stated at the press conference in Bishkek on September 4, 2006, that the IPT top controlling group is fully eliminated now. He also said that such a success was the result of planned operations: �The latest operations of the NSS were directed to liquidate the top people within the organization.� The NSS head assured that his department will keep fighting against terrorists. At the same time, he noted that the NSS will also work on convincing ordinary members of such organizations and groups to return to a peaceful and normal life. For these purposes, the NSS has extended the deadline for militants to lay down their arms to October 1, 2006.

In early August 2006, the Osh Oblast Department of the NSS addressed members of illegal armed groups through local television, urging them to voluntarily surrender by September 1, 2006. As the NSS reports, two men have taken up the call so far.

In view of the latest special operations, the NSS claims that the threat of terrorist acts is not relevant in Kyrgyzstan any longer. �There is no threat of terrorist attacks in Kyrgyzstan anymore and autumn will pass quietly,� stated the NSS head with confidence at a press conference on September 4, 2006.

Parliament also discussed the situation surrounding the NSS anti-terrorist operations while screening the new �Anti-terrorist law,� initiated by the NSS leadership and Parliament member Rashid Tagaev, at the parliamentary session on September 5, 2006. This new law foresees the creation of an Anti-Terrorist Center under the NSS. Many parliamentarians stated that this law will significantly strengthen the powers of the National Security Service. Nevertheless, most lawmakers (48 votes) voted for the draft bill at a parliamentary session on September 7, 2006.