A Kyrgyz hunter and two militants were killed in a border skirmish in northeastern Kyrgyzstan, close to its border with China, AKIpress reported Thursday, with the authorities not excluding the possibility that the militants may come from China.

Alexander Barykin, the head of the hunters' society, was found killed in the Pikertyk area, the Interior Ministry of Kyrgyzstan said Thursday. Barykin's rifle was taken away by the militants. They then opened fire on border guards arriving at the scene, but were surrounded by the guards and the militants were killed, the Border Service said.

A response group led by Vice Prime Minister for Security and Border Affairs Tokon Mamytov has been set up, said the government's press service.

Issyk-Kul region's governor, Emilbek Kaptagaev, said there were 10-12 militants attending the skirmish and he did not exclude the possibility that in the group there might be Uyghur separatists from China.

The area where the skirmish took place is 35-40 kilometers away from Northwestern China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Li Wei, an anti-terrorism expert with the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times that the incident might be related to terrorists returning to the Central Asian region.

"While separatists and terrorists in Afghanistan return to Central Asia, some of them including East Turkistan terrorists … which bring certain threat to the security of countries such as Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan," Li said.

In this sense there is a possibility that the perpetrators are Uyghur separatists, Li noted.

"Kyrgyzstan has kept good cooperation with China on border issues and the Kyrgyz government will seek coordination with China if they ascertain that the militants are Chinese. Given the good record, the incident won't influence border cooperation between the two countries," Li noted.

The Kyrgyz foreign ministry announced later that it has given instruction to Chinese Embassy and diplomats of the two countries held discussions about the incident.

Xinhua contributed to this story