New deadly clashes erupt in Kyrgyzstan

Rival groups clashed in southern Kyrgyzstan yesterday as the interim government retook official buildings from backers of ousted leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev, leaving at least one dead and scores injured.

Shots rang out during street battles in the cities of Osh and Jalalabad, where hundreds of Bakiyev supporters battled factions loyal to the government with sticks and stones, officials and reports said.

The Health Ministry said one person was killed in Jalalabad and 59 were wounded, 26 of them with gunshot wounds, lowering the number of injured from 63. Unconfirmed reports put the death toll higher.

A doctor at Jalalabad regional hospital said that three people died in the clashes, while a spokesman for Mr Bakiyev's support committee, Dzhanara Moldokulova, said that eight protesters were killed. Government supporters regained control of regional administration headquarters in Jalalabad and Osh after they were seized by supporters of former president Bakiyev on Thursday, government officials said.

Several Bakiyev allies, including the former head of his office, Usen Sydykov, were detained during the clashes, government head Roza Otunbayeva Otunbayeva said.

Protesters burnt down three houses belonging to Mr Bakiyev and his brothers in a village outside Jalalabad, a spokesman for the interim government, Farid Niyazov, said.

The US embassy in Bishkek, in a statement, expressed concern about the violence, urging "the peaceful resolution to the problems that have caused this situation".

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday sent his special representative, Vladimir Rushailo, to Bishkek, where he held talks with Ms Otunbayeva.

"Russia has come to help us," Ms Otunbayeva told journalists after the talks. "President Dmitry Medvedev said clearly: they will support Kyrgyzstan politically and materially at this hour."