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.

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.

The Kremlin has said it would not immediately send Russian troops to Kyrgyzstan after the country asked Moscow for military assistance to help quell ethnic violence.

Police and soldiers struggled to stop deadly ethnic clashes in Kyrgyzstan today as gangs of armed young Kyrgyz men marched on Uzbek neighbourhoods where houses were already burning.

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

At least 17 people have been killed and hundreds injured in the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan, which hosts a key US transit base for the Afghanistan war.

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.

Gunfire broke out as the deposed Kyrgyzstan president addressed a crowd of supporters today.

A powerful earthquake struck Central Asia, destroying a village in Kyrgyzstan and killing at least 60 people, emergency officials said today.

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.

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.

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.

President Askar Akayev of Kyrgyzstan fled the country’s capital today after protesters stormed his headquarters, seized control of state television and rampaged through government offices.

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 .

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.