Dozens killed in Uzbek town - witness
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-14 16:38

A bloody military operation to disperse rebels and thousands of protesters who had seized a state building in the eastern Uzbek town of Andizhan killed dozens, a witness said on Saturday.

At least one report said hundreds of people were gathering on the square again where on Friday troops opened fire on a crowd of about 3,000 in the town in the Ferghana Valley, seen as a hotbed of Muslim extremists by the government.

The protesters, some of them calling for long-serving President Islam Karimov to stand down, had gathered after the rebels freed inmates from a local prison, including 23 businessman on trial on religious extremism charges.

Alexei Volosevich, a reporter for opposition Web site ferghana.ru, said by telephone from the town square, where rebels had seized a government building, that he could see dozens of corpses.

"I'm standing next to the cinema and can see 30 dead people and two injured," he told Reuters. "I can see pools of blood and bits of brain on the asphalt."

He said 1,000-2,000 people had gathered on the square again. His report could not be independently verified but a doctor, who declined to give his name, spoke of many casualties.

"We have 96 wounded and many, many dead," the doctor said.

Karimov was due to hold a news conference in Tashkent at 0600 GMT. A government source said late on Friday the building in Andizhan had been taken back. But the area was sealed off and sporadic machine gun and assault rifle fire could be heard.

There were no official casualty figures. Earlier on Friday official figures said nine people were killed when the rebels raided a police station and military barracks, before storming the prison. They took about 10 police as hostages.

This correspondent saw one man, apparently felled by a bullet, lying in a pool of blood three meters (yards) from him after troops opened fire, causing many to flee in panic.

The authorities, in a statement carried on state television, said the rebels had refused to compromise.

Uzbekistan, a Central Asian country bordering Afghanistan, offered the United States use of a military airbase after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on U.S. cities and has become an ally in Washington's war on terrorism.

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