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.

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 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.

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

PRESIDENT Askar Akayev fled Kyrgyzstan yesterday after protesters stormed his headquarters, seized control of state television and rampaged through government offices, throwing computers and air conditioners out of windows.

KYRGYZ President Askar Akayev has charged the country’s opposition with attempting a coup in protests over a disputed parliamentary poll, claiming the effort was financed and managed from abroad.

Protests sweeping Kyrgyzstan are part of a “coup” designed by criminals, President Askar Akayev’s spokesman said today .

KYRGYZSTAN President Askar Akayev yesterday ordered an investigation into alleged violations in the recent election voting that has triggered mass demonstrations and partial takeovers by protesters in four cities.

Thousands of people stormed three government buildings in Kyrgyzstan today, forcing security forces to flee, in the latest in a wave of protests to demand the resignation of Soviet-era President Askar Akayev.

About 10,000 pro-democracy protesters stormed a police station and forced workers to flee a governor’s office in Kyrgyzstan today, a government spokesman said, in the biggest demonstration since allegedly fraudulent elections last month.