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Kyrgyzstan is a weak link in Central Asia that could be exploited by extremists determined to create an Islamic caliphate in the region bordering Afghanistan, the head of the country's security service said on Thursday.Keneshbek Dushebayev, head of the Kyrgyz National Security Service -- successor to the Soviet KGB -- said Islamist militants have played a role in the wave of ethnic bloodshed that killed more than 250 people in Kyrgyzstan this month."Over the last 20 years, Kyrgyzstan has been in a state of permanent social and economic crisis," Dushebayev said."Because of this, Kyrgyzstan has been the weakest link for international terrorist organisations to carry out attacks."The United States and Russia, which operate military air bases in Kyrgyzstan, are anxious the turmoil does not spread to other regions of Central Asia, a Muslim but secular region lying on a drug-trafficking route from Afghanistan.Diplomats have said in private they are worried Islamists could take advantage of Kyrgyzstan's lawlessness to gain strength but so far there have been no clear signs of such activity. No group has claimed responsibility for the violence.Several days of clashes in the south of the impoverished country has divided the Kyrgyz and Uzbek communities in the Ferghana valley where the two countries intertwine. About 400,000 fled, about a quarter of whom crossed into Uzbekistan."International terrorist organisations have long sought to set up an Islamic caliphate in Central Asia. All these problems we have in the south have offered fertile ground to carry out such attacks," Dushebayev told a news conference.But security analysts say the recent violence had nothing to do with Islamist militancy and was unlikely to hand gains to extremist groups, because authorities in the region are on high alert and have kept such groups in check.COORDINATED ATTACKSThe office of U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said on June 15 the violence began with coordinated attacks by unidentified individuals in balaclavas, which quickly spiralled into ethnic clashes between local Kyrgyz and Uzbeks.Dushebayev showed reporters automatic rifles, pistols, grenades and Islamist literature that he said were seized this week during police raids on ethnic Uzbek communities in Osh, the epicentre of the violence.Security officials in Osh have said the raids were necessary to seize weapons and search for missing people.Ethnic Uzbeks and human rights officials have said the raids were heavy-handed and that residents were beaten and their homes looted. They also accused government troops of not protecting ethnic Uzbeks and sometimes even siding with the attackers.Reuters had no way of independently verifying the origin of the items on display, which included a large English-language poster saying "Prosperity and freedom for people of Uzbekistan".Parts of Central Asia, gripped by poverty, have become more susceptible to extremist ideology in recent years. Banned groups, such as Hizb ut-Tahrir, enjoy some social support in the region, although they have little or no political weight.While saying extremists groups might have been involved, Dushebayev said he also believed forces loyal to Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the former president who was ousted in a popular revolt in April, had played a role in the violence."Their pride has been hurt," the security chief said. "They want to regain their wealth and their power, no matter what."Bakiyev, in exile in Belarus, has denied these claims.Speaking in Minsk on Wednesday, he said it was impossible to determine who was responsible until a full investigation has been carried out. He said it was possible that drug traffickers and religious extremists could have been involved."So far I have just been told that the spark was a simple fight between members of two ethnic groups," he said.(Writing by Robin Paxton, editing by Paul Taylor)
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