Kyrgyz opposition leader suspects he was poisoned

Kyrgyzstan President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's main opponent in July elections believes he has been poisoned and is leaving the Central Asian country for treatment, his office said Thursday. Almazbek Atambayev, 52, who came second in a poll criticized as undemocratic by Western observers, will leave for Turkey on Friday for a week of medical treatment, his spokesman Zhoomart Saparbayev said. "We think it was poisoning. He felt terrible, his fingernails became brown, he vomited and was dizzy," Saparbayev said. There have been a series of high-profile poisonings in the former Soviet union in recent years, including that of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who was disfigured by dioxin during the 2004 presidential election.