By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Ethnic violence in south Kyrgyzstan, that swept the region in the last few days, claimed at least 80 lives and left over 1,000 injured, a media report said Sunday.
A round-the-clock curfew has been imposed in south Kyrgyzstan, the Kyrgyz news agency AKIpress reported.
The curfew will be in effect in Osh and the adjacent Kara-Suu and Aravan districts, the agency said, referring to the Kyrgyz interior ministry.
Deadly ethnic riots swept through the country’s second-largest city of Osh and another southern city of Jalalabad Friday and Saturday.
Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbek groups set ablaze cars, and looted stores and markets.
At least 604 people have been hospitalised and another 380 received first-aid treatment. Six severely injured Kyrgyz citizens have been transported to hospitals in Moscow by a Russian cargo plane.
Kyrgyzstan’s interim government passed a decree Saturday declaring a partial mobilisation of the civilian reservists and allowed police and the troops to shoot to kill in order to control the riots.
The humanitarian situation in southern Kyrgyzstan remains complicated as most of the businesses have been closed down and the residents started to feel shortages of food and medical supplies.
Officials from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) are set to gather Monday to discuss ways to resolve the crisis, including possible deployment of a peacekeeping contingent to the violence-hit Kyrgyzstan.
CSTO, a post-Soviet security bloc, comprises Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.