"No instructors from abroad trained extremists on the territory of Kyrgyzstan. There are no facilities for that in the country. In other words, the statement made by the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan does not have anything to do with the actual state of affairs," acting Defense Minister of Kyrgyzstan Ismail Isakov said.

Svetlana Artykova, Director of the PR Department of the Uzbek Prosecutor General's Office, announced on August 26 that Bakhrom Shakirov and his sons wanted for organization of rebellion in Andizhan on May 13 had been trained by foreign instructors in nearby Kyrgyzstan.

"Materials of the investigation indicate that Bakhrom Shakirov with his sons Sharif, Hasan, and Husan, and several members of the gang were trained by foreign instructors in manufacture and use of explosives, guerilla tactics, hand-to-hand combat, and martial arts. [All of that happened] in January-April 2005 in Teke, the abandoned military training facility in the vicinity of Osh in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan," Artykova said.

Deputies of the lower house of the Oly Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan pointed out at their meeting on September 5 that "southern regions of Kazakhstan were chosen as the training site. Nearly 70 religious extremists were trained by foreign instructors there between January and April. Moreover, over 60 gunmen, all of them trained and armed citizens of Kyrgyzstan, raided the territory of Uzbekistan on the night on May 13 to take an active part in terrorist acts."

Isakov said that the facility in Teke was not abandoned at all and that the republican Defense Ministry was using it as a training center.

"The training center is guarded by the troops night and day. Students of military departments of civilian colleges and universities are trained there as well. All claims that extremists could be trained there are actually a laugh," Isakov said.

Isakov is convinced that the Uzbek leadership is but trying to pin the blame for the events in Andizhan on someone else (on Kyrgyzstan in this particular case) and therefore shed responsibility.

"I repeat, there is no extremist training base in Kyrgyzstan. There are no foreign instructors here either - never have been and never will be," Isakov added.

Shakirov and his son Husan denounced all allegations in a telephone interview.

"Artykova of the Uzbek Prosecutor General's Office is lying. My sons and I were at home [in Andizhan] in January, 2005. We had journalists from all over the world at our place then. The statement of the Uzbek Prosecutor General's Office is an element of a political game, a message that "you should have known better than evacuate 430 refugees from Andizhan to Romania," Bakhrom Shakirov said.

His son Husan denounced all accusations too.

"I was involved in the trials of my brothers as the Akromians in January-April, 2005. The trials were taking place in Andizhan. These days, Uzbek law enforcement agencies obtain testimony against us torturing whoever was arrested as organizers of the Andizhan tragedy. All these charges brought by the Prosecutor General's Office are therefore groundless," Husan said.