Clashes in Kyrgyzstan injure at least 30 people in bid to retake gov’t building

Clashes in Kyrgyzstan injure at least 30 people

JALAL-ABAD, Kyrgyzstan — Gunfire erupted in Kyrgyzstan when thousands of interim government supporters attempted to retake regional government buildings occupied by backers of deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, injuring at least 30 on Friday, officials said.

The clashes broke out at the compound of the regional government headquarters in Jalal-Abad. Around 200 Bakiyev supporters, some with automatic rifles, holed up in the government building overnight after capturing it Thursday evening.

Elsewhere, hundreds of people ejected a crowd that had occupied the regional government offices in Osh, about 70 kilometers (45 miles) from Jalal-Abad.

Both cities are in Kyrgyzstan’s south, the power base for Bakiyev, who was ousted April 7 amid clashes in the capital between government forces and protesters that left at least 85 people dead.

The prospect of further disturbances in the Central Asian nation will cause alarm in Washington and Moscow, which both have military bases in Kyrgyzstan.

In Jalal-Abad, about 4,000 backers of the Ata-Meken party that supports the interim government arrived to try to evict the occupiers, but many dispersed when gunfire broke out.

Some men in the approaching mob returned fire, while others fought with sticks. Thirty people were admitted with injuries, including more than 10 people with gunshot wounds. The head of the regional hospital treatment unit, Dinara Sagynbayeva, said three people were in a serious condition.

There were no confirmed deaths and the casualties appeared to be from both sides of the clash.

The situation outside the compound remained tense as about 500 Ata-Meken activists remained on the square in front of the government facing several hundred Bakiyev supporters.

In Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s No. 2 city, hundreds of people broke into the governor’s office Thursday afternoon to demand the return of former Gov. Mamasadyk Bakirov, a Bakiyev loyalist who lost his post after the April revolt.

The pro-Bakiyev crowd held the building until the arrival of a large group of people, many of them young men and middle-aged women wearing blue armbands — the color of interim Prime Minister Roza Otunbayeva’s Social-Democrat party.

The groups threw rocks at one another, then Bakiyev adherents fled the building.

While the provisional authorities are struggling to restore control over the entire country, the overwhelming number of interim government backers in Friday’s clashes indicate they enjoy considerable popular support.

Despite concerns that anti-government protests might also be held in the capital, Bishkek, there were no signs of disturbances by Friday afternoon.

Outside parliament, about 400 Ata-Meken supporters rallied in support of the government, while other party activists marched around the city waving red flags.

Associated Press writer Peter Leonard in Bishkek and Ilya Lukashov in Jalal-Abad contributed to this report.