Uzbek soldiers even finished off the wounded: Witness

Families of hundreds killed in Uzbekistan when troops opened fire to quell protests buried their dead on Sunday, as witnesses told of bloody...

Families of hundreds killed in Uzbekistan when troops opened fire to quell protests buried their dead on Sunday, as witnesses told of bloody mayhem in which women and children were shot ‘‘like rabbits’’.

In a single incident in Andizhan on Friday, witnesses said that soldiers fired on a crowd including women and children and their own police comrades who were begging them not to shoot.

Hundreds of bodies lay overnight outside the eastern town’s School No. 15 after the massacre until they were removed in the early hours on Saturday, said the witnesses, who did not wish to be named.

Story continues below this ad

President Islam Karimov said troops were given no order to fire in Andizhan. He blamed the violence on rebels belonging to the outlawed Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir. Hizb ut-Tahrir denied involvement.

A Russian news agency, meanwhile, reported Uzbek troops had fired on civilians trying to flee into neighbouring Kyrgyzstan to escape the violence in their homeland.

Uzbek troops moved in on protesters on Friday after armed rebels freed comrades held in jail during their trial for religious extremism. They took 10 police hostage and occupied Andizhan’s local government building backed by several thousand sympathisers.

‘‘They shot at us like rabbits,’’ a boy in his late teens said, recalling the horror of troops rampaging through the town square where some 3,000 protesters had rallied to support the rebels.

Story continues below this ad

Two days after the uprising in Uzbekistan’s Ferghana Valley, blood and body parts could still be seen on sidewalks and in gutters in the centre of this city of 300,000 people.

The US, for whom Karimov is a close ally in the war on terrorism after providing Washington with an airbase in 2001, has urged the conflicting sides to show restraint.

Karimov on Saturday said 10 police and troops had been killed and a higher number of rebels had also died, but gave no figure for civilians killed.

Human rights campaigner Saidzhakhon Zainabitdinov estimated up to 500 people may have been killed in the ensuing operation to crush the protests.

Story continues below this ad

Witnesses said that on Saturday, when soldiers started removing bodies, a handful of wounded tried to get away but were shot dead on the spot.

‘‘Those wounded who tried to get away were finished with single shots from a Kalashnikov rifle,’’ said a witness, a businessman. ‘‘Three or four soldiers were assigned to killing the wounded.’’ —Reuters

UK urges Uzbekistan to let in Red Cross

LONDON: Britain called on Uzbekistan on Sunday to allow the Red Cross and foreign observers into the country to check reports hundreds had been killed in unrest. ‘‘The situation is very serious, there has been a clear abuse of human rights, a lack of democracy and a lack of openness,’’ Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told BBC Radio. ‘‘We don’t know exactly the number of casualties but plainly quite a number of people have been killed or injured as a result of protests against the government,’’ Straw said. ‘‘We have to have immediately transparency,’’ he added. Tashkent reacted angrily to Straw’s comments in a letter to Britain’s ambassador to Uzbekistan, according to Russian news agency RIA. —Reuters