Inmates kill legislator, injure prison official

? Inmates took control of prison outside the Kyrgyz capital on Thursday and killed a lawmaker who arrived to look into prisoners’ conditions, the government said.

A Justice Ministry official also said the legislator’s bodyguard and an unidentified person were killed in a shootout. There were no details on how the shooting occurred. The slain legislator, Tynychbek Akmatbayev, chaired the parliament’s committee on law enforcement.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the press about the incident, said Ikmatulla Polotov, the head of the Kyrgyz prison administration, was severely beaten and gravely injured.

The guards had vacated the prison, leaving it in full control of the approximately 450 inmates, the official said.

Prime Minister Felix Kulov and Interior Minister Murat Sutalinov rushed to the Moldovanovka prison, some 15 miles north of the capital Bishkek to negotiate.

Kulov held negotiations inside, his aides said, as special forces surrounded the penitentiary.