Clashes in Kyrgyzstan injure more than 30 people during bid to retake gov’t building

Clashes in Kyrgyzstan injure more than 30 people

JALAL-ABAD, Kyrgyzstan — Gunfire erupted in Kyrgyzstan when thousands of interim government supporters attempted to retake a regional government building occupied by backers of deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, injuring more than 30 people Friday, officials and witnesses 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 to a hospital with injuries incurred in the clash, 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 hundreds of Ata-Meken activists stood wielding hunting and automatic rifles, as well as firebombs, and occasionally exchanged gunfire with the Bakiyev supporters.

During a second major wave of the gunfire exchange in the middle of the afternoon, an Associated Press reporter saw one man hit by a bullet in the shoulder.

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.

In a related development, prosecutors revealed the details Friday of what they said was a wiretapped telephone exchange between a former senior adviser to Bakiyev, Usen Sydykov, and an anti-government member of parliament discussing the organization of rallies in southern Kyrgyzstan.

General Prosecutor Azimbek Beknazarov said Sydykov — widely viewed in Kyrgyzstan as an influential behind-the-scenes power broker — is heard issuing instructions for the seizure of administrative buildings in Osh and Jalal-Abad.

Sydykov has been arrested for his involvement in the clashes, Beknazarov said.

Beknazarov said militia groups had been formed in all regions of the country to prevent more riots by Bakiyev supporters.

Speaking at an emergency government meeting, acting security services director Keneshbek Duishebayev accused members of Bakiyev’s family, in particular his oldest son, Marat, of fomenting instability.

Duishebayev said Marat Bakiyev, who was deputy head of the KGB successor agency until his father’s ouster, is based in neighboring Kazakhstan and has provided $1 million to fund public disturbances.

Despite the clashes across the south, the interim government has regained control of most areas, he said.

“The interim government has the situation under total control, with the exception of Jalal-Abad,” Duishebayev said. “Within one day, we will settle the situation in Jalal-Abad.”