169 people ‘killed in Andijan unrest’

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.

Prosecutor general Rashid Kadyrov’s estimate was far below the more than 500 cited earlier in the day by an opposition political party that has been polling alleged victims’ relatives.

Mr Kadyrov said 32 of those who died last Friday were government troops, and indicated the others were militants. “Only terrorists were liquidated by government forces,” he told a news conference, with President Islam Karimov at his side - again contradicting witnesses’ accounts of the violence.

At the same time, Mr Kadyrov added that “terrorists killed a few hostages and innocent civilians while leaving the town”.

Mr Karimov had told a news conference on Saturday that 10 soldiers and “many more” insurgents had been killed. He did not say anything about civilian deaths.

Following Mr Karimov’s earlier claim of foreign involvement in the Andijan riots, Mr Kadyrov also said that more than 50 of those killed were foreigners, including two Kyrgyz nationals. Five more Kyrgyz citizens have been detained, he said.

Mr Karimov previously has said that militants in Andijan took inspiration from massive protests in Kyrgyzstan in March that toppled the unpopular government. He also has tried to cast the riots as the work of Islamic extremists, saying the militants placed phone calls to accomplices in Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Speaking yesterday, Mr Karimov lashed out at foreign journalists, accusing them of biased coverage of Andijan events. He said official restrictions on journalists’ access to the area were motivated by concerns about their safety.

Mr Karimov shrugged off allegations of troops killing civilians. He also rejected criticism from British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who has castigated the Uzbek government for firing on civilians, saying Mr Straw was provided with “false information”.

Nigara Khidoyatova, the head of the Free Peasants party, said that 542 people had been killed in Andijan on Friday and 203 others on Saturday in Pakhtabad, another city in the Fergana Valley. Ms Khidoyatova said her party had arrived at the figure by speaking to relatives of those killed, and the count was continuing.

The crackdown in Andijan occurred after protesters stormed a prison, freed inmates and then seized local government offices.

But many of the demonstrators were citizens complaining about poverty and unemployment.

Journalists saw troops open fire on the crowd at Andijan’s central square.