TEYIT, Kyrgyzstan — News reports say Kyrgyzstan’s deposed president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, has left the country for neighboring Kazakhstan.
Witnesses say Bakiyev’s motorcade pulled up to the airport in Jalal-Abad before a plane was seen departing Thursday.
Russian news agencies RIA Novosti, Interfax and ITAR-Tass say Bakiyev flew to Kazakhstan for talks with with the country’s president.
Bakiyev himself told The Associated Press that Kazakhstan would be a good place for his talks with the interim government controlling the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek.
The provisional government has urged him to leave the country.
Earlier Thursday, gunfire disrupted a rally in Osh where Bakiyev was trying to marshal support among those in his clan power base in the south.