ETHNIC violence in southern Kyrgyzstan has displaced 400,000 people, the UN said yesterday, dramatically increasing the official estimate of a crisis that has left throngs of desperate, fearful refugees without enough food and water in grim camps along the Uzbek border.

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 yesterday as authorities struggled to bring order to the Central Asian country’s south after days of deadly ethnic riots.

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.

RIOTING has killed several hundred people in the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan, the Red Cross said yesterday, as new reports strengthened suspicions that the violence was deliberately ignited to undermine the interim government.

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.

UZBEKISTAN yesterday ordered its frontier closed to a mass exodus of refugees fleeing clashes between rival groups in Kyrgyzstan where government forces were accused of helping the slaughter of ethnic Uzbeks.

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.

KYRGYZ mobs burned Uzbek villages, slaughtered their residents and looted police stations yesterday in the worst ethnic rioting this Central Asian nation has seen in 20 years, sending more than 75,000 Uzbek refugees fleeing across the border into Uzbekistan.

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.

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

FIFA are set to reject the Republic of Ireland’s call for a replay of last night’s World Cup qualifying play-off with France.

Football Association of Ireland chief executive John Delaney has urged FIFA to uphold their own principles and “step up to the plate” by agreeing to replay last night’s controversial World Cup play-off defeat by France.

A suspected Taliban car bomb exploded outside a crowded market in Pakistan today killing at least 20 people in the latest attack aimed at avenging an army offensive along the Afghan border.

A rickshaw suicide bomber killed three people in the Pakistan city of Peshawar today, the latest in a string of strikes across the country that has left hundreds dead.

Pakistani troops backed by jet fighters and artillery killed about 50 militants in a volatile north-western tribal region near Afghanistan where the country's top Taliban leader is believed to be entrenched with thousands of his fighters, officials said today.

Uzbeks went to the polls today in a tightly controlled presidential vote that is widely expected to extend the rule of one of the most autocratic and anti-Western leaders in strategic Central Asia.

Uzbeks, Chechens and Arabs were among about 30 militants killed in a missile attack on a suspected al-Qaida hideout in north-west Pakistan near the Afghan border, officials said today.

TRIBESMEN have killed about 300 foreign militants during a weeks-long offensive in the mountainous region of Waziristan, near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, according to Pakistan’s military leader and president General Pervez Musharraf.

The UN refugee agency, which has sought to block the return of refugees to Uzbekistan, said today that the Uzbek government had ordered it to leave the country in one month.

More than 400 Uzbek refugees arrived today in western Romania where they will be temporarily sheltered after fleeing violence in their Central Asian homeland.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has urged an Uzbek parliamentary panel to investigate this month’s violence in Andijan, including the alleged role of outside forces, but declined to comment on calls for an international probe.

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.

Breaking through a wooden gate and firing only a single warning shot, Uzbek forces recaptured a local leader who had proclaimed plans for an Islamic state - quelling what appeared to be the last open resistance to the government.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Interrogators questioning al-Qaida’s reputed number-three, Abu Farraj al-Libbi, have been repeating the same two questions over and over again: “Where is bin Laden?” and “What were your plans?” a senior Pakistani intelligence official said today.

SECURITY officials who arrested al-Qaida’s number three commander said yesterday that they were “on the right track” to catch Osama bin Laden himself.

SECURITY officials who arrested al-Qaida's number three commander said yesterday that they were "on the right track" to catch Osama bin Laden himself.

Authorities arrested al-Qaida’s No 3 commander and said today they were “on the right track” to catch bin Laden himself.

Pakistani jets pounded a suspected training camp for foreign militants - including Uzbeks, Arabs and Chechens – in a two hour barrage in tribal South Waziristan today.

The al-Qaida leadership has been driven out of Afghanistan and is now plotting terror strikes from within Pakistan, a US military commander said today.

Afghan warlords have a long tradition of changing sides in mid-battle, and none has switched teams more often than Rashid Dostum, the gruff and burly leader of an ethnic Uzbek faction.