Uzbek troops enter border town after unrest

KARA-SUU, Kyrgyzstan - Uzbek forces have retaken control of the eastern border town of Kara-suu, scene of unrest in the aftermath of bloody clashes in nearby Andizhan, witnesses and Russian news agencies said yesterday.

Local people crossing a river bridge into Kyrgyzstan said troops were hunting anybody in the town who may have been connected to the May 13 violence in Andizhan and later disturbances in Kara-suu.

A military helicopter hovered low over the town. But it remained closed to journalists trying to enter from Kyrgyzstan and there was no clear picture of what was going on there.

Local journalists on the Kyrgyz side said two opposition figures in the town had been arrested, but they had no details.

"Armed units from the ministries of defence and interior, and border guard service ... have been drafted into the town and now fully control the situation there," Interfax news agency said in a report from the Kyrgyzstan capital of Bishkek.

"At the present moment the situation ... is stable," it added. Interfax had no reports of any violence.

Kara-suu is the name given to two settlements on opposite sides of the river that forms the border at that point between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

The violence in the tightly-controlled Central Asian state has led to expressions of concern from the West and the United States, which regards the mainly-Muslim country as an ally in the war on terrorism.

The Uzbek government says 169 people were killed in the Andizhan violence, most of them "bandits" who themselves had killed civilians and security officials.

But witnesses said some 500 people, including women and children, were killed when security forces opened fire on rebels and protesters.

Washington has urged President Islam Karimov to be open about events in Andizhan, while the United Nations and the European Union have called for an independent inquiry.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has called on Karimov to agree to an independent international inquiry.

Last weekend, after the violence in Andizhan thousands of people fled to Kara-suu and many tried to get across the closed border into Kyrgyzstan.

The town had been outside the control of government forces since Saturday until Uzbek forces moved back in.

Journalists on the Kyrgyz side on Thursday could see Uzbek soldiers carrying Kalashnikov rifles equipped with grenade-launching attachments, reinforcing the border.

Though the border was open for routine trade and visits by local families, Uzbek police were questioning people crossing in from Kyrgyzstan and were turning back journalists.

Local people entering from Uzbekistan said the military presence in Kara-suu was considerable.

Uzbek forces were seeking out anyone suspected of being linked to the violence of the past week, one local, who would not be named, said.

A spokeswoman for the Kyrgyz border guards in Bishkek said she was not aware of troops returning to Kara-suu, but added that Uzbek border guards had retaken their positions at the request of the Kyrgyz authorities.

"These last few days we have been guarding the border by ourselves," Ulmira Borubayeva said. "There has been agreement that the Uzbek side will deploy their own guards now. From this morning on they have re-installed their posts."

- REUTERS