International Business Times reports that a mob of horsemen armed with sticks and petrol bombs attacked an exploration camp run by South African miner Gold Fields' joint venture in Kyrgyzstan, the latest in a series of assaults on mining companies in the Central Asian state.
Talas Copper Gold, a joint venture between Gold Fields and Britain's Orsu Metals, said on Monday that its security manager was severely beaten as he fled from a burning building at the exploration camp in Talas province. Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic of 5.5 million people, is preparing to elect its next president to replace Almazbek Atambayev (pictured on left) on Oct. 30, following a year in which its former leader was overthrown and hundreds were killed in mob violence.