Kyrgyz government forces swept into an ethnic Uzbek village today, beating men and women with rifle butts in an assault that left at least two dead and more than 20 wounded, witnesses said.

Thousands of ethnic Uzbek refugees camped on the Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan border are refusing to return to their homes, saying they fear for their lives.

Up to one million people are now caught up in the crisis in Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyzstan’s interim president warned today that up to 2,000 people may have died in ethnic clashes as she made her first visit to a riot-hit town since the violence broke out.

An estimated 400,000 people – nearly one-twelfth the population – fled their homes to escape Kyrgyzstan’s ethnic violence, the UN said as throngs of refugees huddled in grim camps along the Uzbekistan border without adequate food or water.

Uzbek refugees displaced by ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan started trickling back to their wrecked homes today in the southern city of Osh, desperate for food and water that aid agencies have had trouble delivering to the thousands camped out on the border.

Kyrgyzstan’s weak military was trying to regain control of the city of Osh, a major transit point for Afghan heroin and the epicentre of ethnic violence that has driven much of the Uzbek population from the country’s poor, rural south.

Heavy arms fire rang out over the Kyrgyz city of Osh today as authorities struggled to bring order to the Central Asian country’s south after days of deadly ethnic riots.

Several hundred people have been killed in rioting in Kyrgyzstan, the Red Cross said today, as new reports strengthened suspicions that the violence was deliberately ignited to undermine the Central Asian nation’s interim government.

Germany has evacuated 89 westerners, including 31 Americans and 40 Europeans, from the violence-torn city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan.

The UN Security Council condemned the violence in Kyrgyzstan and calling for calm and a return of the rule of law.

The leader of the Uzbek community in Kyrgyzstan said today that more than 200 Uzbeks have been killed in ethnic rioting in the Central Asian nation.

Mobs of rioters slaughtered Uzbeks and burned their homes and businesses in Kyrgyzstan’s worst ethnic violence in decades, sending more than 75,000 members of the ethnic minority fleeing the country.

Russia has refused to send in troops as ethnic riots racked southern Kyrgyzstan, forcing thousands of Uzbeks to flee as their homes were torched by roving mobs of Kyrgyz men.

The Kremlin has said it would not immediately send Russian troops to Kyrgyzstan after the country asked Moscow for military assistance to help quell ethnic violence.

Police and soldiers struggled to stop deadly ethnic clashes in Kyrgyzstan today as gangs of armed young Kyrgyz men marched on Uzbek neighbourhoods where houses were already burning.

Armed mobs torched entire districts in southern Kyrgyzstan today during ethnic clashes that left around 40 dead and over 500 wounded.

At least 17 people have been killed and hundreds injured in the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan, which hosts a key US transit base for the Afghanistan war.

Kyrgyzstan’s restive south calmed down today after a failed attempt to take control by supporters of the nation’s deposed president in which one person died and dozens were wounded.

Officials in Kazakhstan today said the deposed president of Kyrgyzstan has left their country, where he had sought refuge in the wake of the bloody uprising in his nation.

Kyrgyzstan’s deposed president Kurmanbek Bakiyev quit the country for neighbouring Kazakhstan today.

Gunfire broke out as the deposed Kyrgyzstan president addressed a crowd of supporters today.

The head of Kyrgyzstan’s interim government said today talks with the its deposed president were possible, but prospects for a compromise were clouded by mutual distrust and threats to use force.

The ousted president of Kyrgyzstan today said he was willing to resign if his security was guaranteed.

Thousands of grieving, angry mourners flooded the main square in the capital of Kyrgyzstan today to honour victims of the country‘s revolt – with many blaming the absent president for ordering security forces to fire on those protesting against his government.

Opposition leaders moved to consolidate their control over Kyrgyzstan after their victory in a bloody uprising, saying they would hold power for six months and assuring the US it can keep a strategic air base here – at least for now.

An opposition coalition in Kyrgyzstan said it formed an interim government that will rule the turbulent Central Asian nation for six months.

Rioting mobs in Kyrgyzstan beat a government minister to death today following earlier clashes with police that left at least a dozen protesters dead.

More than 2,000 unarmed supporters of a presidential candidate who was denied registration in next month’s Kyrgyzstan election stormed the Kyrgyz government headquarters today.

Kyrgyzstan’s parliament today cancelled all special privileges and guarantees awarded by law to ousted President Askar Akayev.

Kyrgyzstan’s President Askar Akayev, who fled the country last month after demonstrators stormed his offices, signed a resignation agreement today, a Kyrgyz lawmaker said.

Kyrgyzstan’s ousted President Askar Akayev said tonight he was prepared to resign if given “relevant” legal protections.

The upper house of Kyrgyzstan’s old parliament announced today that it will dissolve and end its struggle against a newly elected rival legislature, in a bid to bring stability after last week’s ouster of President Askar Akayev.

President Askar Akayev, who fled the small former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan last week after protesters stormed his offices and brought down his government, is in talks with interim leaders seeking his resignation, Kyrgyzstan’s acting prosecutor-general said today.

One of two rival parliaments vying for authority in Kyrgyzstan approved interim leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev as prime minister today, boosting his legitimacy in the wake of the former government’s ousting last week.

Kyrgyzstan’s parliament today set June 26 as the date for elections to replace President Askar Akayev, who was ousted two days ago when demonstrators stormed government headquarters, the legislature’s press service said.

Kyrgyzstan’s interim prime minister chose his key officials as the new leadership moved quickly to try to quell widespread disorder and looting following the overthrow of the president.

Overthrown Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev said today that he is outside the country and denied he had resigned.

Opposition leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev emerged from the Parliament building today and said he had been named Kyrgystan’s acting leader a day after protesters drove President Askar Akayev’s government from power, unleashing widespread looting.