The former Soviet state of Kyrgyzstan sealed their border with neighboring Uzbekistan (another former member of the Soviet Union) after a suicide bomber reportedly attacked an Uzbek police checkpoint.
What makes this incident interesting though is that it occurred in the Andijan region of Uzbekistan. In 2005 Andijan was the site of a bloody massacre after Uzbek troops opened fire on a massive public protest. Uzbek President Islam Karimov tried to pass off the killings as a military action against Islamic terrorists, but foreign news services and non-governmental organizations operating in the region reported that the troops in fact opened fire on a large group of civilians who had taken to the streets in protest. Outside estimates put the civilian death toll at between 400 and 600, though the government only officially admitted to a few dozen deaths in the Andijan action.
So far it’s unclear what exactly happened at the border today. Officials in Kyrgyzstan reported hearing a loud blast, followed by the sounds of a gunfight. The state-controlled media in Uzbekistan said that a suicide bomber caused the explosion and that it was part of a "failed terrorist operation."
But the Uzbek government tried to pass off the events in Andijan in 2005 as terrorist activity as well, so what's the real story today is anyone's guess. President Karimov regularly makes the lists of the world's most oppressive leaders and brands his political opponents as Islamic terrorists as a matter of course. US-Uzbek relations suffered after the Andijan massacre, but have steadily improved since as the United States is relying more and more on Central Asia as a route to move supplies and troops into Afghanistan.
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