Date:26/06/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/06/26/stories/2005062605701200.htm

International

"Pakistan a source of terrorists"

Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW: Pakistan and Afghanistan are sources of terrorists for Central Asia, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.

Mr. Lavrov said Russia had information that militants trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan were periodically sent to mount terrorist attacks in Central Asia.

"On the territory of Afghanistan and the territory of Pakistan adjacent to the Afghan border terrorists are being trained with the participation of former members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Taliban and those who engaged in terror in Russia," he said at a joint press conference with visiting NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

"We have information that militants are being sent from Afghan territory to the Fergana Valley," Mr. Lavrov said.

Mr. Lavrov said earlier that Moscow had evidence the Taliban, as well as Uzbek and Chechen extremists had been involved in violence in Uzbekistan's Andizhan last month.