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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| At least 50 dead in Uzbek uprising aftermath |
| 2005-05-14 |
| More than 50 people have been killed in fighting in Uzbekistan's fourth-largest city, a doctor said as government troops continued to move on Saturday against gunmen who freed prisoners including 23 men on trial for Islamic extremism. Clashes resumed on Saturday morning in the eastern city of Andijan after a lull overnight, with Uzbek army troops firing shells from armoured vehicles and using automatic weapons against the gunmen. "They are now dispersed and we are hunting them down," said an Uzbek soldier. The violence began late on Thursday after a military garrison was raided for its weapons, with the armed men, believed to number at least 60 to 100, then raiding the jail, freeing more 2 000 prisoners, and taking over government buildings. The unrest prompted a violent crackdown by hardline President Islam Karimov in which government troops opened fire on Friday on a crowd of 5 000 demonstrating against his government. Soldiers then fanned throughout the city and by late Friday the counter-offensive appeared to have brought the city back under control, with Russia's Interfax news agency, quoting local police, reporting that the administration building on the main square had been recaptured after particularly intense fighting. "There are at least 50 dead," a doctor at Andijan's central hospital told AFP. He said 96 people were being treated for wounds at the hospital including gunmen and soldiers, while 15 were being treated at another hospital. The Uzbek government has only said that nine people had died and 34 were hurt in gun battles following the jail raid. Between 20 and 30 bodies of men could be seen on Saturday in a street near the centre of Andijan following clashes between gunmen and security forces, an AFP correspondent said. It was one of the most serious crises to shake Uzbekistan, which is run by an authoritarian government and hosts a major United States air base used for operations in neighbouring Afghanistan, since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Andijan, which has a population of 300 000, is near the border of Kyrgyzstan in the densely populated and impoverished Ferghana valley, where Islamist sentiment is traditionally strong. The violence followed days of protests in the city against the trial of the 23 men, who were charged with forming a cell of the outlawed Islamic group Akromiya. The group is an off-shoot of the better known Hizb ut-Tahrir, which seeks to create an Islamic state out of the Central Asian former Soviet republics. Supporters said the charges against the men, mostly businessmen, had been trumped up by Karimov's government, which is widely accused of using torture and arbitrary arrests to keep potential opponents under control. Freeing those 23 men appeared to have been the main original goal of the gunmen. Both the White House in Washington and the British Foreign Office in London have urged calm and restraint. |
| Posted by:Ebbiper Speresing3684 |
| #7 missed that, sounds like Chinese repression of religion = good; W supports gov'ts against Islamazoid killers = disrespect of the ROPma |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-05-14 19:53 |
| #6 Anyone else catch NBC Nightly News tonight? Apparently, the eeeeevil authoritarian Uzbek gov't, which was bought & paid for with $550 Million by the US, has been locking up locals for "religious activities". No mention of fundy Islamo-Nazism, they're just 'religious'. The clear impression left was that ol' Bushie McChimphitler screwed the pooch again and that the WOT is lost & none of this would have ever happened, yada, yada... |
| Posted by: JDB 2005-05-14 19:02 |
| #5 Anyone else catch NBC Nightly News tonight? Apparently, the eeeeevil authoritarian Uzbek gov't, which was bought & paid for with $550 Million by the US, has been locking up locals for "religious activities". No mention of fundy Islamo-Nazism, they're just 'religious'. The clear impression left was that ol' Bushie McChimphitler screwed the pooch again and that the WOT is lost & none of this would have ever happened, yada, yada... |
| Posted by: JDB 2005-05-14 19:02 |
| #4 Anyone else catch NBC Nightly News tonight? Apparently, the eeeeevil authoritarian Uzbek gov't, which was bought & paid for with $550 Million by the US, has been locking up locals for "religious activities". No mention of fundy Islamo-Nazism, they're just 'religious'. The clear impression left was that ol' Bushie McChimphitler screwed the pooch again and that the WOT is lost & none of this would have ever happened, yada, yada... |
| Posted by: JDB 2005-05-14 19:02 |
| #3 Anyone else catch NBC Nightly News tonight? Apparently, the eeeeevil authoritarian Uzbek gov't, which was bought & paid for with $550 Million by the US, has been locking up locals for "religious activities". No mention of fundy Islamo-Nazism, they're just 'religious'. The clear impression left was that ol' Bushie McChimphitler screwed the pooch again and that the WOT is lost & none of this would have ever happened, yada, yada... |
| Posted by: JDB 2005-05-14 19:01 |
| #2 Fox news said 200 confirmed dead and expected to go much higher |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-05-14 12:01 |
| #1 TAKE NOTE -> this is how you deal with extremism (jihadi mindset). Assad (Sr) dealt in the same way with the Brotherhoods in Syria and nary a peep from them. LEARN or get out. Extremist cannot be dealt with kindness. Those who use FORCE against others respect & understand FORCE. Be civil and you will continue to have these brain-dead zealots run wild in hope of appeasing their Deity in heaven that sits on a throne. |
| Posted by: abdul 2005-05-14 10:51 |