Kyrgyzstan government authorises deadly force to stem unrest
13/06/2010
Kyrgyzstan's interim government issued a decree Saturday authorising the military and police to use deadly force in a bid to stem spiralling ethnic violence.
Kyrgyz soldiers drive an armoured vehicle through the streets in Osh on June 11. Kyrgyzstan's interim government issued a decree Saturday authorising the military and police to use deadly force in a bid to stem spiralling ethnic violence.
The decision was taken "in connection with the ongoing clashes of ethnic groups with the use of lethal weapons, and an increasing number of victims among the civilian population," the government said in a statement.
Lethal force will now be authorised in order to repel attacks against police and the military, stop the destruction of government and private property and to protect civilians, the decree said.
The clashes have left 77 dead and almost 1,000 wounded.
Kyrgyzstan's provisional government led by Roza Otunbayeva has struggled to impose order in the Central Asian state since seizing control during riots that ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev earlier this year.
Witnesses said clashes had broken out between ethnic Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbek groups in the main southern city of Osh, once the stronghold of Bakiyev.
bangkokpost.com