Security forces in Kyrgyzstan have killed three men they believe were militants from a rebel group, a state security official said on Sunday. Earlier this week the Central Asian state said five militants had been killed in a gunbattle in the southern town of Jalal-Abad in which one state security officer had been killed. It said the militants belonged to the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). A state security official who asked not to be named said its forces killed three more militants in a village in the Osh region, also in the south near the border with Uzbekistan, on Saturday night. "According to preliminary data three militants have been killed. Most likely they were terrorists from the group destroyed in Jalal-Abad," the official told Reuters. Another senior government official confirmed the killed militants were believed to be members of the IMU. "They (the militants) were from the same structure ... They (the security service) used two armoured personnel carriers to avoid casualties on our side," said the official, who also requested anonymity.