BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz authorities say three citizens of the Central Asian nation were among victims killed in a militant attack on a luxury hotel in Tripoli his week.
The director of Kyrgyzstan's Civil Aviation Agency, Erkin Isakov, told RFE/RL on January 30 that a pilot and two flight attendants with Kyrgyzstan's S.Group International Air Company were among the dead in the January 27 attack on the Corinithia Hotel in the Libyan capital.
He identified the pilot as Zamirbek Beketaev and the flight attendants as Gulzina Beshbakova and Galina Kolosvetova.
Witnesses said the attack was carried out by at least five masked gunmen who stormed into the hotel lobby and shot at staff and guests at random.
A car bomb also was detonated during the attack.
Libyan officials said earlier this week that three Tajik citizens, an American, a French national, and two Libyan guards were among the victims.
However, a Tajik Foreign Ministry spokesman said on January 29 that there were no Tajik citizens among the victims, suggesting Libyan authorties may have mistaken the Kyrgyz victims for Tajiks.
