BISHKEK. Kyrgyzstan has asked its neighboring countries for help in investigating the deaths of 21 people on a Chinese-owned passenger bus last week. Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry spokesman Ruslan Umarbekov said Interior Minister Bakirdin Subanbekov has discussed the matter with his counterparts in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. He also said the ministry is waiting for a group of investigators to come from neigboring China. Kyrgyz officials say the burnt-out bus was discovered last week in the mountains of southeastern Kyrgyzstan, near the Sarybulak village of the Kochkor district in the Naryn region. The victims were shot and killed before their bus was set on fire. Kyrgyz authorities suspect the incident was a robbery. At least 19 of the victims have been identified as Chinese nationals, 16 of them ethnic Uyghurs. Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev sent a letter of condolence to the Chinese government over the Sarybulak tragedy. The president promised to bring to justice those responsible for the killings.