More than 100 Uzbeks slaughtered as Kyrgyz mobs set the city of Osh on fire

More than 75,000 refugees have been forced to flee Kyrgyzstan as mobs burned villages and killed at least 117 Uzbeks in the worst ethnic rioting in the Central Asian nation in 20 years.
Most of the refugees fleeing across the border into Uzbekistan were elderly people, women and children, and many had gunshot wounds, said the Uzbek Emergencies Ministry.
Sporadic gunfire continued overnight and fresh fires started by rioters destroyed most of Osh, the second-largest city in Kyrgyzstan, and food was scarce after widespread looting.

Attack: Thousands of terrified refugees flee towards the Uzbekistan border as Kyrgz mobs kill scores of ethnic Uzbeks

Slaughter: Uzbek men prepare the graves for the victims of the ethnic clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbek communities in the city of Osh

The official death toll reached 117 with 1,500 hurt, the Health Ministry of the beleaguered former Soviet country, which hosts U.S. and Russian military bases, announced today that 1,500 people have been hurt in the attacks - and the death toll is expected to rise.
Accounts from international aid agencies and other witnesses suggest the real figures could be multiples higher: the International Committee of the Red Cross has said its delegates witnessed about 100 bodies being buried in just one cemetery.

Kyrgyz mobs have rioted in Osh setting most of the city on fire

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed alarm at the scale of inter-ethnic clashes and is today travelling to Bishkek to assess the situation.
In a telephone call to the foreign minister of Kazakhstan, who currently chairs the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Mr Ban voiced concern over the rising numbers of dead and displaced people.
'The Secretary-General said he was alarmed by the scale of the clashes, the inter-ethnic nature of the violence, the mounting casualties and the large number of displaced people,' spokesman for his office said.
The two officials agreed that they would co-ordinate a response to the crisis, together with the European Union.
Triumphant crowds of Kyrgyz men have took control of Osh yesterday as the few Uzbeks still left in the city of 250,000 barricaded themselves in their neighbourhoods. Fires continued to rage across Osh and shots were heard but police were nowhere to be seen.
The rioting has significant political overtones. Former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted in a bloody uprising in April and fled the country. Uzbeks have backed Kyrgyzstan's interim government, while many Kyrgyz in the south support the toppled president.
Interim President Roza Otunbayeva blamed Bakiyev's family for instigating the unrest, saying it aimed to derail a constitutional referendum on June 27 and elections scheduled for October.
A local official in the south said Bakiyev supporters had attacked both Kyrgyz and Uzbeks to ignite the rioting.
From his self-imposed exile in Belarus, Bakiyev denied any role in the violence and blamed interim authorities for failing to protect the people.
The interim government has ordered troops to shoot rioters dead, but even that failed to stop the spiralling violence that has left more than 100 people dead and over 1,250 wounded since Thursday night.
Doctors say that toll is far too low because wounded minority Uzbeks are too afraid of being attacked again to go to hospitals.
The rampages spread quickly Sunday to Jalal-Abad, another major southern city, and its neighbouring villages, as mobs methodically set Uzbek houses, stores and cafes on fire.
The rioters seized an armoured vehicle and automatic weapons at a local military unit and attacked police stations around the region trying to get more firearms.

Riots: Kyrgyz mobs burned Uzbek villages and slaughtered their residents Sunday as ethnic rioting engulfed new areas in southern Kyrgyzstan

Police and the military appeared to be on the defensive across the south, avoiding clashes with mobs. Flights to both Osh and Jalal-Abad were cancelled.
'Bakiyev's entourage has funded and organized these riots,' Otunbayeva's deputy Omurbek Tekebayev told Associated Press.
Kyrgyzstan hosts both U.S. and Russian military air bases, but they are in the north, away from the rioting. Otunbayeva had asked Russia for military help Saturday to quell the rioting, but the Kremlin refused.

Destroyed: Fires started by Kyrgyz men blaze through Uzbeks' residence

But Russia on Sunday sent a battalion of paratroopers - about 300 people - to reinforce security at its air base, the Interfax news agency reported. The base has about 500 personnel, mostly air force members.
The U.S. Manas air base in the capital, Bishkek, is a crucial supply hub for the coalition fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, but a Pentagon spokesman said the interim government had not asked for any U.S. military help.
The U.S. Embassy in Kyrgyzstan voiced a deep concern about the raging violence and called for the 'immediate restoration of order and a respect for rule of law.' It said it was discussing humanitarian aid with the interim government.

Kyrgyzstan's Interim Government have been unable to stop the spiralling violence

Uzbekistan's Foreign Ministry condemned the riots and voiced hope that Kyrgyzstan will re-establish order, but the country's authoritarian President Islam Karimov is unlikely to interfere in the conflict.
The fertile Ferghana Valley where Osh and Jalal-Abad are located once belonged to a single feudal lord, but it was split by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin among Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The Stalinist borders rekindled old rivalries and fomented ethnic tensions.

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