Minister beaten to death as mob runs riot

Anti-government unrest rocked the Central Asian nation's main

government building, as thousands stormed in, set fire to the

prosecutor's office and looted state TV headquarters.

The Kyrgyzstan health ministry later confirmed that 40 people had died and 400 were wounded in the protests.

The eruption of violence upset the relative stability of the mountainous former Soviet nation, which houses a US military base that is a key supply centre for nearby Afghanistan.

Demonstrators furious over government corruption and a recent increase in power prices looted the state television and radio building and were marching toward the Interior Ministry in the capital, Bishkek when police opened fire.

Opposition activist Shamil Murat said that Interior Minister Moldomusa Kongatiyev was beaten to death by a mob in the western town of Talas where the unrest erupted a day ago.

Dozens of wounded demonstrators lined the corridors of one of Bishkek's main hospitals.

Weeping nurses slumped over dead bodies, doctors shouted at each other and the floors were covered in blood.

Opposition activist Toktoim Umetalieva said 17 people died after police opened fire.

The unrest began on Tuesday in Talas, where demonstrators stormed a government office and held a governor hostage, prompting a government warning of "severe" repercussions.

The opposition called nationwide protests for yesterday, vowing to defy increasingly authoritarian President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

Since coming to power in 2005 on a wave of street protests known as the Tulip Revolution, Bakiyev has brought a measure of stability but at the expense of democratic standards while enriching himself and his family.

Over the past two years, Kyrgyz authorities have clamped down on free media, and opposition activists say they have routinely been subjected to physical intimidation and targeted by politically motivated criminal investigations. Many of the opposition leaders once were allies of Bakiyev.

Anti-government forces have been in disarray until recently but anger over a 200 percent increase in electricity and gas bills has united the opposition.

Police in Bishkek at first used rubber bullets, tear gas, water cannons and concussion grenades to try to control crowds who were chasing police officers, beating them up and seizing their arms, trucks and armoured personnel carriers.

Some protesters then tried to use a personnel carrier to ram the gates of the government headquarters, known as the White House. Most threw rocks but about a half dozen young protesters shot Kalashnikovs into

the air.

Some 200 police began firing, pushing the crowd back from the

government headquarters.

Protesters set fire to the prosecutor general's office in the city centre and a giant plume of black smoke billowed up.

Groups of protesters then set out across Bishkek. Some seized the state television and radio building, others marched toward the Interior Ministry.

Unrest also broke out for a second day in Talas and spread to the southern city of Naryn where they seized Naryn's regional administration building and installed a new governor.

The prime minister, meanwhile, has accused the opposition of provoking the violence in the country of five million.

"What kind of opposition is this? They are just bandits,"said Prime Minister Daniyar Usenov.