NOVO-OGARYOVO, June 28 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian president said Russia had been in possession of intelligence reports about gunmen crossing Afghanistan's border and infiltrating neighboring Central Asian republics, and it had warned the countries in question about that. "You know that we had intelligence on gunmen infiltrating (the region( from Afghanistan," Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Islam Karimov, the president of Uzbekistan, at his residence near Moscow on Tuesday.
"We informed our colleagues in the countries where they concentrated, but we do not know whether the information was conveyed to you on time. It is a problem," said Putin.
"I will not dwell on other aspects of the tragic events of May 12-13, but we can confirm gunmen did infiltrate [the region] from special bases in Afghanistan and they concentrated on adjacent territories," said Putin. "Our security agencies confirm that."
The Uzbek authorities said in the early hours of May 13 and the next day, gunmen committed a series of terrorist attacks. The authorities said 176 people had been killed and 295 wounded in the clashes. Uzbekistan's foreign ministry said 79 terrorists were killed and 62 injured.
Investigators said the international terrorist organizations Turkestan Islamic Movement (formerly known as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan), Hizb-ut-Tahrir, and one of its local branches, Akramiilar, had been involved in the attacks.
