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ALMATY (AFP) - Uzbek President Islam Karimov has dismissed his defense minister amid heightened security fears in the Central Asian region, Ria Novosti reported Saturday.
Yuri Agzamov was released from his duties as defense minister "in relation to his move to another job," the news agency reported citing a presidential order. Former Deputy Defense Minister Kodyr Gulomov was appointed defense minister in a separate order, the agency reported. The reason for the shake-up is unclear although it comes after some 100 Islamic activists attacked the former Soviet country's southern border last month, apparently in a bid to overthrow Karimov's regime. A further 15 armed activists launched an assault in the Bostanlyk region of Uzbekistan, also in August, some 100 kilometers from the capital Tashkent. Led by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the activists apparently wish to create a Muslim state in the Ferghana Valley, which straddles Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The reshuffle also comes against a background of fighting in Afghanistan and the approach of that country's ruling Taliban to the Tajik border. |
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