Report: Kyrgyz security forces share blame for Uzbek killings

Kyrgyz security forces shared the blame for unrest in which 2,000 people were killed in June, a report released Monday by a prominent human rights group alleges, dpa reported

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that police and military forces had not protected the Uzbek minority from attacks and, in some instances near the southern city of Osh, had even aided Kyrgyz attacks on Uzbeks.

HRW said it questioned over 200 people for the report, including Kyrgyz and Uzbek victims, eyewitnesses, human rights activists and members of government.

The investigation of the unrest initiated by the Kyrgyz government had also violated human rights, HRW claimed.

The New York-based group accused the government of having made illegal arrests and searched homes in Uzbek areas without warrants on a daily basis.

Security forces had also beaten Uzbeks and even set their homes on fire, while evidence had been falsified in some cases, HRW alleged.

The trigger for the ethnic violence was a confrontation between Uzbek and Kyrgyz nationals on June 10 in a casino in Osh, HRW said.

An Uzbek mob had then attacked Kyrgyz citizens and set their homes on fire. The next day, thousands of Kyrgyz nationals had streamed into Osh to wreak their revenge on the Uzbeks.

The unrest also spread to other parts of southern Kyrgyzstan. Hundreds of thousands of Uzbeks fled, large numbers of them to neighbouring Uzbekistan.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is due to send 52 observers to the Central Asian country to help keep the peace between Kyrgyz and Uzbek citizens