Hundreds dead in Uzbek clashes

FAMILIES of the hundreds of people killed when Uzbek troops opened fire to quell protests in Andizhan buried their dead yesterday as witnesses told of bloody mayhem in which women and children were gunned down.

"They shot at us like rabbits", a boy in his late teens said recalling the horror of troops rampaging through the town square on Friday where 3,000 protesters had rallied in support of rebels holed up in a state building with police hostages.

A Russian news agency also reported that Uzbek troops had fired on civilians trying to flee into neighbouring Kyrgyzstan to escape the violence.

Uzbekistan's autocratic president Islam Karimov said on Saturday no order had been given to troops to fire in Andizhan. He said he had forbidden the use of force against women, children and the elderly.

Mr Karimov, a close ally in the US war on terrorism since giving Washington an airbase in 2001, said 10 police and troops had been killed and a higher number of rebels had also died. He gave no figure for civilians killed.

But two days after an uprising in the mostly Muslim Central Asian state's Ferghana Valley, blood and body parts could still be seen on footpaths in the centre of this leafy city of 300,000 people. The facade of the two-storey School Number 15, the scene witnesses said of a massacre of civilians and police being held hostage, was pockmarked with at least 20 bullet holes.

Pools of wet blood mixed with water and dirt could be seen in the blocked open drains. A blood-soaked baseball cap lay in bushes.

The violence in Andizhan started early on Friday when armed rebels freed from prison comrades standing trial for Islamic extremism. They took 10 police hostage and occupied Andizhan's local government building backed by thousands of sympathisers.

Human rights' campaigner Saidzhakhon Zainabitdinov estimated up to 500 people may have been killed in the ensuing operation to crush the protests, which would make it the bloodiest incident in Uzbekistan's post-Soviet history.

Witnesses said that on Saturday, when soldiers started removing bodies, a handful of wounded tried to get away but were shot dead on the spot.

"Those wounded who tried to get away were finished with single shots from a Kalashnikov rifle," said one witness, a businessman. "Three or four soldiers were assigned to killing the wounded."

The bloodshed prompted up to 4,000 people to flee to the closed border with Kyrgyzstan.

"Uzbek troops shot at us several times although we shouted to them that we are civilians," he said.

Mr Karimov, criticised by Western human rights groups for jailing dissident Muslims, said the rebels belonged to the outlawed Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir and were to blame for the violence. Hizb ut-Tahrir denied involvement.

Smoke could be seen rising from the building seized by rebels and sporadic sniper fire could be heard. A security services officer said troops were "mopping up a few remaining fighters."

Nearby southern Kyrgyzstan, also part of the Ferghana Valley, is home to many ethnic Uzbeks and was the starting point for violent protests earlier this year which led to the overthrow of President Askar Akayev.

The Kyrgyz coup followed the peaceful overthrow of established leaders in Ukraine and Georgia, where the US backed mass protests. But analysts say that Washington's strategic interest in Uzbekistan may make it hard for it to support popular resistance to Mr Karimov. But Britain denounced the bloody military crackdown and called for democratic reform in the central Asian republic.