Kazakhstan's Air Astana Suspends Flights To Bishkek

ASTANA-- Kazakhstan's main airline, Air Astana, said today it has suspended all flights to the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

Air Astana's press service told journalists that the decision was made due to the tense situation in Kyrgyzstan, where some 75 people were killed and an estimated 1,000 injured on April 6-7 in violent clashes between antigovernment protesters and Kyrgyz police and security forces.

The company said it plans to resume flights to Kyrgyzstan by April 19.

Meanwhile, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry says one of the victims in the Kyrgyz clashes was a Kazakh national, Ilya Shiyan, from the southern Kazakh region of Zhambyl.

The ministry did not say how or exactly where Shiyan died.