PM orders probe as clashes flare over Kyrgyz gold miner

BISHKEK, April 4 (Itar-Tass) - Senior government officials have been sent to a troubled mining region in Kyrgyzstan's Talas province after clashes between police and demonstrators on Thursday. Disturbances broke out as a crowd of 500 rallied to demand a halt to mining at the Shyralzhyn gold deposit, blocking a road linking Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan and hurling stones at police called to the scene. Twenty officers were injured, the Interior Ministry said. Vice-Premier Abdyrakhman Mamataliyev, in charge of defence, security and law and order, was ordered to the district of Bakai-Ata to calm tension, the government press service told Itar-Tass, quoting Prime Minister Dzhoomart Otorbayev. Mamataliyev was to join the head of the state agency for geology and mineral resources, and the government's envoy to the region, both already at the location. The government press service said the prime minister had ordered examination of the mining company's activities. Checks were to reveal whether the company fulfilled obligations to provide social support for residents in nearby villages and how local and regional authorities spent funds provided by the company. Learn more on itar-tass.com