Fresh ethnic violence erupts in Kyrgyzstan کرغیستان میں تازہ ترین نسلی فسادات شروع

OSH, Kyrgyzstan (The Associated Press )
 — Sporadic gunfire continued through the night and fresh fires raged in southern Kyrgyzstan on Monday. The Central Asian nation's worst ethnic violence in decades showed no signs of abating as thousands of Uzbeks fled the slaughter.

The official death toll reached 117 with 1,500 hurt, the Health Ministry of this beleaguered former Soviet country, which hosts U.S. and Russian military bases, announced early Monday.

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.

In days of attacks, mobs of rioters slaughtered ethnic minority Uzbeks and burned their homes and businesses. More than 75,000 Uzbeks fled the country amid attacks that also appeared aimed at undermining the new interim government.

The interim government, which took over after Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted by a public revolt in April, has been unable to stop the violence and accused Bakiyev's family of instigating it. Uzbeks have backed the interim government, while many Kyrgyz in the south have supported the toppled president.

New fires raged Monday across Osh — the country's second-largest city, on the border with Uzbekistan, where food and water were becoming scarce. Armed looters smashed stores, stealing anything from televisions to food.

No police could be seen on the streets, though authorities insisted some of the improvised checkpoints dotted around the city of 250,000 were theirs.

Cars stolen from ethnic Uzbeks raced around the city, most crowded with young Kyrgyz wielding sharpened sticks, axes and metal rods.

In some parts of Osh, Kyrgyz residents protected homes housing both Kyrgyz and Uzbeks.

In another city beset by violence, Jalal-Abad, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) away, armed Kyrgyz amassed at the central square. Their goal was to travel to the nearby Uzbek settlement of Suzak in search of an Uzbek community leader they blame for starting the trouble.

The Uzbek border is just 3 miles (5 kilometers) from Osh. Uzbek refugees were mostly elderly people, women and children, with younger men staying behind to defend their property. Some were fired on as they fled.

The United States, Russia and the U.N. chief all expressed alarm about the scale of the violence and discussed how to help the refugees. The U.S. and Russia both have military bases in northern Kyrgyzstan, away from the rioting. Russia sent in an extra battalion to protect its air base.

Uzbeks make up 15 percent of Kygryzstan's 5 million people, but in the south their numbers rival ethnic Kyrgyz.

From his self-imposed exile in Belarus, Bakiyev denied any role in the violence and blamed interim authorities for failing to protect the people.

Interim President Roza Otunbayeva's government had hoped to seal its political and democratic credentials in a referendum to approve a new constitution on June 27, but the likelihood of that vote taking place now looks slim.