By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow/Bishkek : Ethnic violence in south Kyrgyzstan, which has swept the region for the past few days, has claimed the lives of at least 82 people and left over 1,000 injured, a media report said Sunday.
Deadly riots swept through Osh and another southern city of Jalalabad Friday and Saturday, AKIpress reported.
Meanwhile, the Kyrgyz interim government has decided to impose an emergency in the entire Jalalabad region and impose a curfew in the area from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. The emergency will be in effect till June 22, a government decree said.
The decree also ordered a partial mobilisation of civilian reservists and allowed police and the troops to shoot to kill in order to control the riots.
As 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. Six severely injured Kyrgyz citizens have been transported to hospitals in Moscow by a Russian plane.
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.