As Many as 200 Killed in Uzbekistan: Map and CIA Information on Uzbekistan

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As Many as 200 Killed in Uzbekistan

By Peter Finn
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, May 14, 2005; 12:06 PM

MOSCOW, May 14 -- Dozens of civilians were killed when Uzbek government troops opened fire on protesters, many but not all of them unarmed, in the eastern city of Andijan Friday evening. The president of the Central Asian republic defended the use of force Saturday as necessary to put down an uprising that he said was the work of "criminals" and "Islamic radicals."

At a press conference in the capital Tashkent, President Islam Karimov said Saturday that 10 soldiers were killed on the previous day of violent clashes that ended in widespread bloodshed when troops stormed a central square and government buildings where thousands of protesters had gathered. Karimov said only that "many more" protesters were killed than troops, but he did not provide specific numbers.

Human rights groups said as many as 200 people may have been killed, and local activists said troops removed scores of bodies from the city center early Saturday morning.

The violence was triggered by the prosecution of 23 prominent local businessmen on charges of religious extremism, part of a wider and much-resented government crackdown in this largely Muslim country on all forms of Islam that are not sanctioned by the state. Thousands of people have been swept into government jails where human rights groups say they are subject to torture.




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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/14/AR2005051400501.html

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uz.html#Geo



http://news.google.com/news?q=uzbekistan&hl=en&lr=&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&scoring=d