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An unnamed Turkish official confirmed for Reuters news agency the attackers' countries of origin after Turkish media reports. Some agencies named one of the men as Osman Vadinov, said to have crossed into Turkey from the IS stronghold of Raqqa in Syria in 2015. Reports that he was a Chechen have been denied by an unnamed police source in the North Caucasus, Russia's Interfax news agency reports. IS has long recruited members from mainly Muslim parts of the former USSR, with at least 2,200 believed to have come from Russia alone, according to a report last year. ... Yildirim said...

(CNSNews.com) – Although no group has claimed responsibility for Monday’s deadly bomb blasts at the Boston Marathon, a leading al-Qaeda ideologue last year recommended that jihadists in America include sporting events in their list of prospective terror targets.

Watching the deteriorating security situation in Kyrgyzstan, we have a Cold War reflex to forecast a new flash point between the U.S. and Russia. In reality, it's the opposite — this remote and feeble Central Asian country is offering a new opportunity for Moscow and Washington to work as partners. "We are not in any way framing this as a zero-sum game," a senior administration official explained Tuesday. "On the contrary, we are very closely coordinating our actions with Moscow." The death toll this week rose into the hundreds, but violence appeared to decline on Tuesday and the Kyrgyz defense...

Kyrgyzstan's toppled President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, currently in exile in Belarus, lashed out at the interim government which replaced him and insisted that he remains the country's legally elected leader. AFP - Kyrgyzstan's ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev insisted Wednesday that he was still the rightful leader of his country, breaking several days of silence after his flight into exile. "I, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, am the legally elected president of Kyrgyzstan and recognised by the international community," he said, speaking to reporters in Belarus where he took refuge earlier this week "I do not recognise my resignation. Nine months ago the people of...

Kyrgyzstan may be a landlocked country with a population of less than 5.5 million, but it still looms large in the regional calculations of China, Russia and the United States. The Kyrgyz Republic is the only country to host both a Russian and a US military base. The Russian base at Kant symbolises Moscow’s preeminent security role in the region, while the US base at Manas plays a vital role in sustaining NATO military operations in Afghanistan. And Kyrgyzstan also borders Xinjiang, prompting concerns among Chinese policymakers over infiltration by terrorists and narcotics smuggling into this sensitive province as well...

3/26/2010 - TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, Kyrgyzstan (AFNS) -- A Transit Center at Manas Airmen wrote to his family and friends, "Please don't send me any care packages." Instead, Lt. Col. Rex Vanderwood told his family and friends, "If you want to send something, send things that will help the local villagers." Deployed to the Transit Center at Manas since January from Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, Colonel Vanderwook has taken an interest in the winter Warm and Dry Campaign to get the local community clothes they need to survive the harsh winters. Little did he know how much aid...

WASHINGTON, June 25, 2009 – The Kyrgyz parliament today ratified an agreement between the United States and Kyrgyzstan to extend U.S. access to Manas Air Base, a key logistics hub that supplies troops in Afghanistan, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman confirmed today. The agreement must now go to Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev for signature. “It’s not a done deal until the president signs it,” Whitman said. “Out of respect for their processes, we’ve been trying to give them the time and space to give this the consideration that it needs.” The agreement provides for a transit center at Manas International Airport,...

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2009 – The Kyrgyz parliament is expected to vote in the coming days on agreements reached between the United States and Kyrgyzstan governments to extend U.S. access to Manas Air Base, a logistics hub that supplies troops in Afghanistan, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell confirmed today. While emphasizing that the United States is “not counting our chickens before they are hatched,” Morrell expressed hope that the deal will go through. If ratified, the agreements would provide for a transit center at Manas International Airport, operated by the United States, to provide logistical support to coalition forces in...

4/16/2009 - MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan -- A symbolic ground-breaking ceremony was held April 14 in Birdik Village to signify the start of a school renovation project between the United States and the Kyrgyz Republic. Nearly two weeks after work began on the $470,000 project to repair the school, a ceremony was held to recognize the development partnership between the U.S. State Department, U.S. Central Command, Manas Air Base and Birdik Village. Nearly 200 villagers, construction workers, students and distinguished guests attended the ceremony, including the U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, the Manas Air Base commander, several local civic leaders and...

BISHKEK, February 4 (RIA Novosti) - The United States will make an official statement on Wednesday on the decision to close its airbase in Kyrgyzstan announced by the Central Asian state's leader yesterday, the U.S. embassy in Bishkek state said. Kurmanbek Bakiyev said in Moscow that he would demand the closure of the U.S. military base used to support antiterrorism operations in neighboring Afghanistan, citing Washington's refusal to discuss higher rental payments and reluctance to address the 2006 killing by a U.S. officer of a Kyrgyz man. At talks with President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday Bakiyev secured deals writing off...

1/2/2009 - MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyz Republic (AFPN) -- "I knew I was unhealthy and had to make some changes, especially when I thought about my five-year-old looking up at me," said Senior Airman Jarvis Johnson. "Without changes, I wouldn't be around to see him and my daughters grow up." When you ask someone what they can accomplish in six months -- just 24 short weeks -- they may say something like, "I plan to finish a couple college courses," or maybe, "I'm going to read a couple books," or "Tour a little." Many may say they are going to...

Still in Control Pervez Musharraf was calm, confident and—despite a flurry of rumors—not about to announce his resignation. Instead, the Pakistani president's "concession" to his troubled nation was an announcement that he would allow Britain's Scotland Yard to help local law enforcement agencies with their investigation into last week's assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Speaking in a nationally televised address two hours after Pakistan's election commission announced the postponement of the ballot to Feb. 18, six weeks later than had been scheduled, Musharraf was notably deferential in his remarks about Bhutto, often invoking her "martyrdom" and extolling...

2/27/2007 - MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan (AFNEWS) -- Airmen of the 376th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron here are training a new breed of fighters for the war on terrorism. The Airmen normal protect the members of the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, but are now helping train a Kyrgyz military working dog unit. A warehouse here has been designated as the playground, and when the building door opens, Tech. Sgt. Mark Lotre of the 376th ESFS K-9 unit gives the order to a waiting Kyrgyz team to begin searching the area. A Kyrgyz dog handler issues the...

BISHKEK, September 8 (RIA Novosti) - Polish authorities released a Kyrgyz opposition leader detained earlier on alleged drug-trafficking charges, a member of the Kyrgyz parliament said. Omurbek Tekebayev was arrested Wednesday after arriving in Poland from Turkey as part of a Kyrgyz parliamentary delegation. Tekebayev, who was traveling on a diplomatic passport, is alleged to have been carrying a Russian wooden matryoshka doll containing heroin in his baggage. "Polish authorities apologized to him [Tekebayev], saying they were convinced the MP became the victim of political machinations as an opposition leader in Kyrgyzstan," Melis Eshimkanov said. Supporters of Tekebayev claimed Thursday...

BISHKEK, September 6 (RIA Novosti) - A female American soldier from a U.S. military air base in Kyrgyzstan went missing Tuesday in the capital, Bishkek, a spokesman for the base said Wednesday. The woman was last seen on Tuesday in a city mall after she left a group of fellow servicemen from the Manas Air Base while they were shopping. Local police said they had no information about a lost American soldier. "No one has yet notified law enforcement bodies about a lost U.S. citizen," said Sherkozi Mirzakarimov, the Central Asian's first deputy interior minister. The U.S. has been renting...

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - A U.S. Air Force officer went missing while shopping in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek, the U.S. air base in this Central Asian nation said Tuesday. Maj. Jill Metzger separated from a group of other service members while visiting the central department store in Bishkek on Monday afternoon and has not been seen since, the Manas air base press service said. It said a group of 22 U.S. military investigators and logistics officers were searching for Metzger, along with the U.S. Embassy and Kyrgyz security and law enforcement services. The U.S. military has maintained the air base...

Ancient gold coins found in Kyrgyz mountain lake 16:34 | 30/ 08/ 2006 BISHKEK, August 30 (RIA Novosti) - Possibly the world's most ancient gold coin has been discovered in a high mountain lake in Kyrgyzstan, the chief of an archeological expedition said Wednesday. Academic Vladimir Ploskikh said an expedition from the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University found a 70-gram octagonal gold artifact on the northern side of Lake Issuk-Kul. "This is probably the earliest form of metal money found in Central Asia, and may have served as an archetype for later gold coins," he said. "If this [hypothesis] is confirmed, the...

Ferghana Valley: A rooster speaking \  Ferghana.Ru news agency, Firdavsy, a Ferghana.Ru correspondent, 15.03.2006 Have you ever heard roosters? Sure you have. Who hasn't? A certain rooster in the Kyrgyz town of Osh, however, is something else. Its crow has already saved it from death. Owner Ibragim Ismatullayev, his neighbors from Tadjikskaya Street in the center of Osh, and local journalists maintain that the rooster is calling Allah. This correspondent made a trip to Osh to see the wondrous rooster with his own eyes. Recalling numerous con-artists encountered in my career, I was fairly skeptical suspecting bluff or a money-extorting...

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — The United States won new assurances Tuesday that an important air base used to support the war in Afghanistan will remain open as long as necessary. Rice and Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev (search) signed a brief statement promising open-ended U.S. use of the Manas air base for Afghan operations.....

The Iranian Foreign Ministry reacted cautiously when asked about the recent ouster of Kyrgyz President Askar Akaev, who fled from Bishkek following the storming of government offices by protesters. Spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi said Iran is monitoring developments and added, "We hope conditions in Kyrgyzstan will return to normal as soon as possible," IRNA reported on 26 March. Tehran has worked hard in recent years to strengthen its relationship with the Akaev government, but the Iranian government cannot be expected to openly protest the democratic aspirations of the Kyrgyz people. Nevertheless, some Iranian officials have attributed the events in the...