ISLAMABAD – The government is conducting DNA tests of charred body parts to identify the victi...Pakistani-controlled Kashmir elects new PM
MUZAFFAR ABAD – Sardar Attique Ahmad has been elected the prime minister of Pakistani-administ...Khyber Pakhtunkhwa rains kill at least 150
PESHAWAR – Flooding from torrential rains killed at least 150 people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and...Otunbayeva tours south; Osh mayor defiant
BATKEN/OSH, Kyrgyzstan -- Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva has begun visiting the violence-wra...Turkmenistan to blacklist some from leaving, visiting country
ASHGABAT -- A secret order by Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov that takes effect A...Migrant worker deaths, disappearances ignored, NGO says
KHOREZM, Uzbekistan -- Officials in Uzbekistan and abroad ignore the suffering of families who...Otunbayeva fires 7 Supreme Court justices
BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz president Roza Otunbayeva has fired seven justices of the Supreme Court, inc...Rogun to displace thousands
DUSHANBE -- Construction of the Rogun hydroelectric dam will require the resettlement of about...Tajiks expect decline in Afghan drug exports in 2010
DUSHANBE -- Better law enforcement and a fungus likely will reduce the volume of Afghan narcot...Uzbeks, Kyrgyz brawl near Moscow metro station
MOSCOW -- Tensions linked to southern Kyrgyzstan's June ethnic riots boiled over as Uzbek and...
Kyrgyzstan opens renovated bomb disposal training centre
 Kyrgyz officers march in formation at the opening of a field bomb disposal training facility February 6 in Kara Jygach village. The OSCE Centre in Bishkek helped finance its refurbishment. [OSCE/Kutman Borboev] |
KARA-JYGACH, Kyrgyzstan – Kyrgyz troops now have a state-of-the-art sapper training centre at home.
In February, with the support of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) office in Kyrgyzstan, the Ministry of Internal Affairs opened a field centre in Kara-Jygach, Chui Oblast, to train its forces.
“…Many people say this is just some sort of booth– a field. But this is really a big step forward. Several such steps, and international terrorism will completely cease to frighten us”, said Aleksandr, a physicist and a sapper in one of the Defence Ministry’s units.
The site has been home to a sapper field centre built during Soviet times. Soldiers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and the special services studied here. Support from the OSCE office enabled renovation of the centre and financed state-of-the-art equipment.
The renovated centre has classrooms for teaching theoretical knowledge and for hands-on training and conducting exercises for security forces. In addition, the centre contains the most modern computers, relevant software, and a collection of specialised literature.
One Kyrgyz commander said the centre will help troops resolve terrorist situations with less collateral damage.
“The important thing is that we now have a full-fledged, well-equipped centre for sappers”, said Ministry of Internal Affairs Troops Commander Abylmazhin Shadybekov. “We all remember how four years ago, when the militants were discovered in Jalal-Abad Oblast, (they) dug in at a building in the centre of town and mined it. At the time, we succeeded in solving the problem. However, not only were the militants liquidated; the building did not escape destruction”.
Aleksandr the sapper expressed interest in the centre’s labs: “As a physicist, I was very interested in poking about in them. It is a pity they gave us little time for this. All the same, our day was filled with various classes. There is a place here where you can assemble and disassemble explosive devices and study their contents. And, of course, there is a (mine) range”, he said.
Aleksandr said he was part of a 15-member group at the centre. Each group studies for ten days and is then switched out for a new group. Plans exist to expand each group to up to 100 members in the future.
Ambassador Andrew Tesoriere, head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, said a sister centre opened in Bishkek in August 2009. The equipping of these centres comes within the OSCE’s programme for the fight against terrorism.
“In these centres, employees of Kyrgyzstan’s security agencies undergo training in the disposal of explosives. It is also possible to conduct training exercises on the protection of the country’s critical sites, such as the power complex”, said Tesoriere.
Tesoriere said that protection of the country’s strategic sites concerns not so much militant attacks as it does natural disasters, such as the earthquakes that periodically strike Kyrgyzstan.
Maksat has been in the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ special forces for more than ten years. He must remain anonymous not only because he is a sapper, but also because ten years ago he helped eliminate terrorists in Batken Oblast. He is not even allowed to remove his mask in the presence of others.
“It is very good that they are renovating such centres", he said. "Our work is not on the range alone; we still have theoretical courses, we investigate different techniques and we study foreign languages. After all, in our work anything can come in handy.”
With respect to the importance of preventative measures, Tesoriere said: “It is important that the country be ready to repel any encroachment on its sovereignty and borders”.
Reader Comments