Ethnic violence kills more than 100 in Kyrgyzstan Reuters

Thousands of Uzbeks fleeing southern Kyrgyzstan massed at the border today, as the deadliest ethnic violence in decades left entire city blocks razed to the ground and scores of people dead.

The official death toll from the clashes that began last week reached 117, with 1,500 injured, the health ministry of the beleaguered former Soviet country, which hosts US and Russian military bases, announced.

However, an Uzbek leader claimed that 200 Uzbeks have already been buried, and the International Committee of the Red Cross has said its delegates witnessed about 100 bodies being buried in just one cemetery.

Jallahitdin Jalilatdinov, who heads the Uzbek National Centre, said that at least 100,000 had fled for the border and were awaiting entry into Uzbekistan. An Associated Press reporter saw at least hundreds of Uzbek refugees stuck at a border crossing near Jalal-Abad in a no-man's land between the boundaries.

The interim government, which took over after Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted by a public revolt in April, has been unable to stop the violence and accused Bakiyev's family of instigating it. Uzbeks have backed the interim government, while many Kyrgyz in the south have supported the toppled president.

New fires raged today across Osh, the second-largest city, which is on the border with Uzbekistan. There was no gas or electricity and food and water in the city was becoming scarce as armed looters smashed stores, stealing anything from televisions to food.

No police could be seen on the streets, though authorities insisted some of the improvised checkpoints dotted around the city of 250,000 were controlled.

Cars stolen from ethnic Uzbeks raced around the city, most crowded with young Kyrgyz people wielding sharpened sticks, axes and metal rods.

In some parts of Osh, Kyrgyz residents protected homes housing both Kyrgyz and Uzbek people.

In Jalal-Abad, about 25 miles away, armed Kyrgyz people massed in the city's central square. Their stated goal was to travel to the nearby Uzbek settlement of Suzak in search of an Uzbek community leader they blame for starting the trouble.

The US, Russia and the head of the United Nations all expressed alarm over the scale of the violence and discussed how to help the refugees.

Uzbeks make up 15% of Kyrgyzstan's 5 million people, but in the south their numbers rival ethnic Kyrgyz.

"Gunfire on the streets is continuing," Jalil Saparov, a journalist in Jalal-Abad, told the news website 24.kg. "There are no patrols, no government forces, just continuous shooting.

"It's clear those forces and means at the disposal of the regional authorities are completely inadequate."

Much of Osh has been destroyed, with entire Uzbek neighbourhoods razed. Triumphant crowds of Kyrgyz men took to the streets, while the few remaining Uzbeks barricaded themselves in their homes.

Witnesses said bodies lay among the rubble, and were starting to smell. Most of the victims appeared to be Uzbek. At least one Pakistani student in Osh was killed during the rioting, and 15 others taken hostage, Pakistan's foreign ministry said.

There are fears among other central Asian nations that the ethnic slaughter could spread. It will also concern the US, which operates a military base near the capital, Bishkek, supplying troops in Afghanistan.

The US embassy in Kyrgyzstan deplored the ongoing violence and called for the "immediate restoration of order and a respect for rule of law".

On Saturday, Interim President Roza Otunbayeva appealed to the Kremlin to send troops to restore order. Russia's president, Dmitry Medvedev, refused, saying the rioting was an "internal conflict", though he did send a battalion of paratroopers with the sole responsibility of reinforcing security at Russia's airbase in Kant, in the north of the country.