OSH, Kyrgyzstan – Ethnic riots wracked southern Kyrgyzstan on Saturday, ******* thousands of Uzbeks to flee as their homes were torched by roving mobs of Kyrgyz men. The interim government begged Russia for troops to stop the ********, but the Kremlin offered only humanitarian assistance.
At least 77 people were reported ****** and more than 1,000 wounded in the ******** spreading across the impoverished Central Asian nation that hosts U.S. and Russian air bases.
Much of its second-largest city, Osh, was on fire Saturday and the sky overhead was black with smoke. Roving mobs of young Kyrgyz men armed with firearms and metal bars marched on minority Uzbek neighborhoods and set homes on fire, ******* thousands of Uzbeks to flee. Stores were looted and the city was running out of food.
Kyrgyzstan's third straight day of rioting also engulfed another major southern city, Jalal-Abad, where a rampaging mob burned a university, besieged a police station and seized an armored vehicle and other weapons from a local military unit.
"It's a real war," said local political leader Omurbek Suvanaliyev. "Everything is burning, and bodies are lying on the streets."
