Over 100 die as ethnic rioters torch Uzbek homes

The government ordered troops to shoot rioters dead but even that failed to stop the spiralling violence.

More than 1,000 have also been wounded in the impoverished Central Asian nation since the violence began on Thursday night.

Doctors and rights activists also say that the toll is misleading because wounded Uzbeks are too afraid of being attacked again to go to hospitals.

Thousands of Uzbeks have fled in panic to the border with Uzbekistan after their homes were torched by mobs of Kyrgyz men. Some Uzbek women and children were gunned down as they tried to escape, witnesses said.

Fires set by rioters have destroyed most of Osh, the country's second-largest city, and looters have stolen most of its food.

Triumphant crowds of Kyrgyz men took control of most of Osh yesterday while the few Uzbeks still in the city of 250,000 barricaded themselves in their neighbourhoods.

The rampages spread quickly to Jalal-Abad, another major southern city, and 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.

Police and the military appeared to be on the defensive across the south, avoiding clashes with mobs.

The riots are the worst violence since former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted in a bloody uprising in April and fled the country. The Uzbeks have backed the interim government, while many Kyrgyz in the south had support the toppled president.

Interim President Roza Otunbayeva blamed Bakiyev's family for instigating the unrest in Osh, saying it was aimed at derailing a constitutional referendum on June 27 and new elections scheduled for October.

A local southern official said Bakiyev supporters attacked both Kyrgyz and Uzbeks to ignite the rioting.

From his self-imposed exile in Belarus, Bakiyev issued a statement denying any role in the violence and blaming the interim authorities for failing to protect the population.

Russia has refused to send in troops after the interim government begged Russia for help to stop the violence, but the Kremlin offered only humanitarian assistance.

Kremlin spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said in Moscow: "It's a domestic conflict and Russia now doesn't see conditions for taking part in its settlement."

She said Russia would discuss with other members of a security pact of ex-Soviet nations about the possibility of sending a joint peacekeeping force to Kyrgyzstan.