BISHKEK, August 13. /TASS/. Kyrgyzstan’s former President Almazbek Atambayev, detained on August 8, had plotted to carry out a coup, Head of the country’s State National Security

Committee Orozbek Opumbayev said at a press conference on Tuesday.

"Atambayev planned to carry out a coup in the country," he said.

According to Opumbayev, the ex-president used women and children as a human shield during a special operation to detain him as he intended to take advantage of media reports about civilian casualties in his attempts to overthrow the authorities.

Opumbayev also said that a special forces soldier who participated in a special operation to detain Atambayev was killed with a weapon later found in the ex-president’s house.

"The soldier was killed with a weapon kept in Atambayev’s house. A great number of weapons were found in his house, including a Dragunov sniper rifle. Atambayev confessed to firing six bullets at my people," Opumbayev said.

Kyrgyz special forces’ operation to detain the former president, charged with corruption and stripped of immunity, lasted for almost 24 hours as law enforcement officers faced strong resistance from Atambayev’s supporters defending his residence in the settlement of Koi-Tash. A special forces soldier was killed in the operation, while over 100 people suffered injuries. Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov said Atambayev had violated the country’s constitution by offering armed resistance to law enforcement agencies. The ex-president has been taken into custody until August 26.

Atambayev served as Kyrgyz president in 2011-2017. He was the country’s first head of state to step down after his first term in office had expired. In the spring of 2018, Atambayev admitted that he had strong differences with incumbent President Sooronbay Jeenbekov.