Pakistan to airlift students from Kyrgyzstan
By IANSMonday, June 14, 2010
ISLAMABAD - A Pakistani aircraft would leave Monday on a rescue mission in violence-hit Kyrgyzstan after two of its students were killed there.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Monday confirmed that an air force plane would fly the students back home from Kyrgyzstan, Xinhua reported.
He also said so far 40 of the 247 trapped students were brought to safety. However, the timeframe was not disclosed by the official sources.
The Pakistani embassy in Bishkek is collecting all the students to a safer place, said Abdul Basit, spokesman of Pakistani Foreign Office.
The students have been moved to an airport for an onward journey to Pakistan, Xinhua said citing Pakistani media reports.
Two students were killed Sunday, as a gang of armed extremists took dozens of Pakistani students hostage.
Qureshi said that about 1,500 Pakistani citizens lived in the central Asian country.
At least 117 people have been killed in the inter-ethnic riots since early Friday in southern Kyrgyzstan.
