Making his first trip abroad since a bloody crackdown on protesters, Uzbek President Islam Karimov has left on a visit to China, which has provided a rare note of support for the authoritarian Central Asian leader.

Kyrgyzstan has forced scores of refugees who fled Uzbekistan after it exploded in unrest to return despite fears they could face cruel treatment, a Kyrgyz official said today, as other refugees vowed to go home voluntarily to demand their government’s removal.

REFUGEES who fled a crackdown by Uzbek troops said yesterday they dared not return home, and the UN turned up the volume on its demands for an inquiry into deaths believed to have run into hundreds.

A REBEL leader deepened the crisis in eastern Uzbekistan by announcing an Islamic uprising in his border town.

Uzbek officials took foreign diplomats and journalists on a lightning-quick tour of Andijan today, showing them a prison and the local administration building and arranging meetings with local officials, as the top UN human rights official called for an independent investigation.

A group of foreign diplomats and journalists arrived in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan today to assess the scope of a violent government crackdown on demonstrators.

UZBEKISTAN’S top prosecutor said yesterday that 169 people had been killed in violence in the eastern town of Andijan, including more than 50 foreign fighters.

Flowers dotted the streets and freshly-dug graves scarred the earth across the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan as residents mourned what witnesses said were hundreds killed by security forces last week – the worst unrest since the former Soviet republic won independence in 1991.

TRAUMATISED refugees last night slammed the Bush administration for legitimating Uzbek President Islam Karimov.

Gunfire persisted today in the eastern city where Uzbek security forces fired on protesters last week – a clash that reportedly left several hundred dead - and new reports emerged that violence in nearby towns killed hundreds more, further threatening the stability of the government.

About 150 Uzbek refugees trying to flee to neighbouring Kyrgyzstan after a violent crackdown on protesters in Uzbekistan have been turned back by Kyrgyz authorities, who also warned they could quickly deport others who had previously crossed the border, officials said today.

Sporadic shooting continued today in an eastern Uzbek city where an uprising sparked a crackdown by security forces that left up to 500 people dead, and a human rights group reported that clashes in another town killed an additional 200 people.

About 500 bodies have been laid out in rows at a school in the eastern Uzbek city where troops fired on protesters to put down an uprising, a doctor in the town said today, corroborating witness accounts of hundreds killed in the fighting.

Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov claimed today that authorities had tried to negotiate a peaceful end to street protests, but that troops were forced to fire into demonstrators to put down an uprising.

Some 1,000 angry protesters gathered at the site of earlier violence in this Uzbek city Andijan today, placing six bodies on display among the dozens that witnesses said were killed in earlier fighting in the heart of Central Asia.

SOLDIERS opened fire on thousands of protesters in eastern Uzbekistan yesterday after demonstrators stormed a jail to free 23 men accused of Islamic extremism.

Soldiers opened fire on thousands of protesters in eastern Uzbekistan today after demonstrators stormed a jail to free 23 men accused of Islamic extremism, while a protest leader said about 50 people may have been killed hours earlier in clashes with police and security forces.

An armed crowd freed inmates from a prison in an eastern Uzbekistan city as thousands of activists took to the streets today to protest the trial of 23 Islamic businessmen on extremism charges while security forces fired into the air, witnesses said.

Soldiers opened fire on protesters in eastern Uzbekistan today and killed at least three after demonstrators stormed a jail to free 23 men accused of Islamic extremism, witnesses said.

Outrage over the terror trial of 23 Muslims exploded into broader unrest in eastern Uzbekistan today when armed protesters stormed a jail to free the defendants and thousands of people swarmed the streets, clashing with police.

Thirty people have been arrested in Uzbekistan on terrorism charges in the wake of three days of attacks that killed 42 people in the former Soviet republic in central Asia.

An explosion and shoot-out between Uzbek police and alleged terrorists outside the capital Tashkent today left several injured, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported, citing law enforcement sources.

ISLAMIC extremists were blamed yesterday for suicide bombings, attacks on police and an explosion at an alleged terrorist bomb-making factory in Uzbekistan that killed 19 people including the bombers and injured 26.

A small airliner crashed tonight in Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent, killing all on board, the Russian ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

General Tommy Franks, commander of the US campaign in Afghanistan, today said the battle against the Taliban has not reached a stalemate.

Taliban rulers, vowing to ‘‘fight to the last’’ against those who side with the United States, today said they have sent thousands of troops to the border with Uzbekistan.

The US today confirmed reports that more than 1,000 troops have been sent to the Afghan border in the former Soviet state of Uzbekistan.