Moscow (PTI): A huge cache of arms and ammunition including machine guns were recovered by police from a house rented by US nationals in Bishkek, the capital of central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan.

In a raid carried out on Monday in presence of US diplomatic staffers and 10 service personnel, six heavy machine guns, 26 assault rifles, two under-barrel grenade launchers, four sniper rifles and night vision devices were recovered yesterday from a house rented by the Americans, according to Interior Ministry.

The house was owned by a 66-year-old Kyrgyz national. A US Embassy spokesperson talking to local media dubbed the seizure of arms as an "unpleasant incident" and claimed that the weapons had been kept in the house with the permission of the Kyrgyz authorities, as the US servicemen were in the country for anti-terrorist training exercises.

Kyrgyzstan borders on China's western Xinjiang-Uighur province, where recently 16 Chinese border troops were killed in the terror attack by the foreign backed separatists, seeking independence from Beijing for their Muslim homeland.