US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld won assurances from top government officials today that American forces face no near-term deadline for withdrawing from an air base near the Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek that they use to support combat and humanitarian aid in Afghanistan.

An Uzbek prosecutor said on Monday that the death toll from May’s violent uprising in the east of the country had risen by 11 to 187, and that half of those killed were armed militants.

Police in Uzbekistan detained dozens of opposition activists over the weekend in a fresh crackdown on dissent after this month’s uprising in the east of the country, an opposition party leader said today.

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.

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.

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.

Government troops reclaimed control of an eastern Uzbek town where rebels announced they would build a strict Islamic state, arresting the group’s leaders without bloodshed, residents said today.

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.

An opposition leader today claimed her party had compiled a list of 745 people killed by government troops in Uzbekistan last week.

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.

THE violence that has ripped through Andijan city in Uzbekistan is only the latest chapter in the troubled history of the former Soviet republic.

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.

Police shot and killed a suicide bomber outside the Israeli Embassy in the Uzbekistan capital today, the US Embassy in Tashkent said.