Armed mobs set fire to homes in ethnic clash

A state of emergency was declared yesterday in the Central Asian nation that hosts the key Manas US military air base in Bishkek for the war in Afghanistan.

The rioting in Osh, the second-largest city, was the worst violence since former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was toppled in April and fled the country – a former Soviet republic of five million people.

The intensity of the conflict, which pits ethnic Kyrgyz against minority Uzbeks, appears to have taken the country by surprise and has thrown a fragile interim government's prospects for survival into doubt.

Quelling the violence will prove a decisive test of the government's ability to control the country, hold a vote on June 27 for a new constitution and go ahead with new parliamentary elections scheduled for October.

Dozens of buildings across Osh were ablaze. Gangs of men attacked shops and set cars alight.

The interim government declared a state of emergency and sent armoured vehicles, troops and helicopters to the area. Soldiers were at routes into the city but fighting still continued and a curfew was imposed.

A doctor at a hospital in Osh said the final death toll could climb sharply as many Uzbeks were afraid to seek treatment.

"All the beds in this hospital are full, but 90 per cent of the people being treated are Kyrgyz. Uzbeks are afraid of the Kyrgyz victims' relatives, who are in an extremely aggressive frame of mind," the doctor said.