/ 11 June 2010

Dozens killed in Kyrgyzstan ethnic clashes

Thirty-seven people have been killed and more than 500 wounded during ethnic violence in southern Kyrgyzstan, a Health Ministry spokesperson said.

Thirty-seven people have been killed and more than 500 wounded during ethnic violence in southern Kyrgyzstan, a Health Ministry spokesperson said on Friday.

“Thirty-seven people have now died” as a result of the ongoing violence in the southern city of Osh, the spokesperson said.

Kyrgyzstan’s provisional government, led by Roza Otunbayeva, has struggled to impose order on the volatile Central Asian state since seizing control during riots that ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev earlier this year.

Witnesses said brawls had broken out between ethnic Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbek groups in Osh, once the stronghold of Bakiyev. — AFP