Kyrgyz MPs slaughter sheep in parliament

Lawmakers in Kyrgyzstan have ritually slaughtered seven sheep in parliament to exorcise "evil spirits" from the chamber after last year's ethnic violence and change of regime.

The parliament press service said the sheep were killed in a ritual sacrifice within the walls of the Zhogorku Kenesh parliament in the Central Asian state's capital Bishkek.

"Parliament deputies are hoping to chase evil spirits from the Zhogorku Kenesh," an official with the public relations department told AFP.

The impoverished former Soviet nation went through a series of violent clashes last year when a bloody revolution last April which unseated president Kurmanbek Bakiyev was followed by deadly inter-ethnic clashes in June.

Lawmaker Kurmanbek Osmonov said the sacrifice had been conducted at the initiative of the deputies and a Muslim cleric had been invited to pray for the victims of the April and June clashes.

"The meat of the sacrificial sheep will be sent to a home for the elderly, an orphanage and a mosque," said Osmonov.

"We're hoping that the tragic events that happened last year will not be repeated and peace and stability will settle in the country."