Emergency rescue services gather around the overturned Soviet-era Tupolev Tu-134 after it crash-landed in foggy conditions in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. 82 passengers and six crew members were evacuated and 17 were hospitalised.

Two police officers were slightly injured in an explosion in the centre of Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, today ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The leader of a nationalist party that did better than expected during last month’s election in Kyrgyzstan claimed he was wounded in an assassination attempt.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

KYRGYZSTAN’S ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev made his first public appearance yesterday since being toppled in a popular uprising, slamming his opponents and refusing to step down.

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.

THE president of Kyrgyzstan declared from hiding last night that he would not surrender to a violent uprising that put the opposition in control of much of the country, home to a US air base key to the war in nearby Afghanistan.

Intense gun battles are taking place across the Kyrgyzstan capital of Bishkek.

ANTI-GOVERNMENT unrest rocked the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan yesterday as thousands of protesters stormed the main government building, set fire to the prosecutor’s office and looted state TV headquarters.

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

At least four people died when police opened fire on a crowd of protesters in the capital of Kyrgyzstan today.

Three crew members of a Zimbabwe-registered cargo plane were killed when the aircraft crashed at Shanghai’s main international airport.

A passenger jet carrying 90 people, including a high school basketball team, crashed shortly after take-off near the Kyrgyz capital in Central Asia, killing at least 65.

A PASSENGER plane crashed shortly after takeoff from the Kyrgyzstan capital of Bishkek yesterday, claiming the lives of 71 people onboard, the health ministry said.

A passenger jet carrying 90 people, including a Kyrgyz high school basketball team, crashed shortly after takeoff today near the Kyrgyz capital, killing at least 65, government officials said.

A US serviceman fatally shot a civilian at the US military air base in Kyrgyzstan today “in response to a threat,” the US military said.

Kyrgyzstan’s government today rejected a move by opposition politicians to pass a new constitution, calling it an attempt to seize power illegally.

Tens of thousands of angry demonstrators rallied outside the Kyrgyz president’s headquarters today, demanding he resign in a dispute over proposed political reforms that would cut his powers.

Kyrgyzstan’s president Kurmanbek Bakiyev today told parliament he would delay the introduction of constitutional reforms demanded by the opposition, just as thousands of opposition protesters gathered in the capital of the ex-Soviet Central nation, Bishkek, to demand his resignation.

Russian politicians were to vote today on a motion fiercely condemning Georgia’s pro-Western leadership as an anti-Georgia campaign gathered steam after Moscow imposed sweeping sanctions on the small neighbouring state.

At least three prisoners were killed by guards today at a prison in the village of Petrovka just outside the capital, Bishkek, said Kalbu Temirbekova, the mother of one of the inmates.

Gunfire erupted and casualties were reported at a Kyrgyz prison today when riot police entered to restore order.

Inmates at a prison outside the Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek today shot and killed a politican who had arrived to look into prisoners’ living conditions.

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.

Kadyr Toktogulov Bishkek

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.

Hundreds of people, some throwing stones, broke into Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court in the capital Bishkek today and evicted supporters of five losing parliamentary candidates who had occupied the building for more than a month.

US President George Bush yesterday told a cheering crowd of tens of thousands of Georgians that they were proving to the world that determined people can rise up and claim their freedom from oppressive rulers.

SINCE Georgia’s November 2003 Rose Revolution against Eduard Schvardnadze’s government, a series of other former Soviet governments have fallen after popular revolutions, often with the backing of the US and other Western nations.

SUPPORTERS of losing candidates in last month’s parliamentary elections in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan have occupied the country’s Supreme Court, demanding the resignation of all its judges.

KYRGYZSTAN’S overthrown President Askar Akayev revealed yesterday he is staying near Moscow and will not resign.

TWO rival parliaments competed for power yesterday in Kyrgyzstan, raising political uncertainty in the former Soviet nation days after its leader fled for Russia and his government collapsed amid massive demonstrations.

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.