Around 100 killed in Kyrgyz unrest: opposition

Kyrgyz troops opened fire on anti-government protesters on Wednesday outside the offices where President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was sheltering from clashes that have killed dozens of people according to a witness, 100 according to the opposition.

As unrest swept the central Asian republic, the opposition took control of the national television, the prosecutors' office was set alight and state media reported that a deputy prime minister was held hostage in the remote northwest.

The riots were the culmination of spiraling protests in the Central Asian nation with the opposition demanding Bakiyev's resignation and accusing his government of rights violations, authoritarianism and economic mismanagement.

Despite arresting three leading opposition figures and declaring a state of emergency, the authorities failed to prevent the rebels from rapidly taking control of some of the main levers of power.

A health ministry official said 19 people had died, many from gunshot wounds, and almost 200 were injured.

"Most are young people under the age of 30," the official, Larisa Kachibekova, told AFP.

"According to our count, around 100 people have been killed in the disorder," opposition leader Omurbek Tekebayev said, speaking during an address to the nation on a state television channel seized by opposition supporters during riots earlier Wednesday. He called for Bakiyev's government to step down.

"The leaders of the opposition have held negotiations with the head of the Kyrgyz government (Prime Minister) Daniyar Usenov," Tekebayev said in a televised address.

"Our only goal is that they relinquish their authority."

"What kind of negotiations with the government can we talk about when they are killing our people?" prominent opposition and human rights campaigner Toktoaim Umetaliyeza told Reuters.

Most are young people under the age of 30

Health ministry official

"Deep concern"

The United States, which maintains an air base in Kyrgyzstan used in the NATO campaign in nearby Afghanistan, voiced "deep concern" while Russia also appealed for calm in the former Soviet republic.

The storming of parliament came after hundreds of opposition protesters laid siege to the building and thousands more rioters sealed off the government headquarters nearby, calling for Bakiyev to quit.

An AFP journalist meanwhile saw flames coming from the ground floor of the four-storey prosecutors' office.

Riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades in repeated bids to disperse the demonstrators and Usenov declared a state of emergency, but all to little effect.

A police source said Interior Minister Moldomus Kongantiyev had been killed in the northwest hub of Talas where the first protests erupted.

Kongantiyev was attacked by protestors who had also taken deputy Prime Minister Akylbek Zhaparov captive, the Kabar Kyrgyz state news agency reported.

An interior ministry spokesman, Rakhmatullo Akhmedov, later said Kongantiyev was alive but acknowledged the government had little information on the situation in Talas, saying it was "checking" reports the minister was taken hostage.

In Bishkek, explosions from stun grenades reverberated across the city and the crackle of automatic weapons fire filled the air as protestors in the main square gasped for breath in a fog of tear gas.

As Moscow appealed for dialogue, authorities in Bishkek said former prime minister and presidential candidate Almazbek Atambayev, ex-parliament speaker Omurbek Tekebayev and one of his aides had been arrested for "serious crimes".

The independent Azattyk radio station reported another Kyrgyz opposition leader held talks on Wednesday with Usenov.

What kind of negotiations with the government can we talk about when they are killing our people?

Human rights campaigner Toktoaim Umetaliyeza

"Stop firing"

"At the meeting, the sides agreed on two things: the authorities must stop firing on their own citizens and they must free the detained opposition leaders," Temir Sariyev, head of the Ak Shumkar opposition party, told the Kyrgyz-language branch of Radio Free Europe.

Witnesss said security forces had fired live bullets into the air as between 3,000 and 5,000 protestors overturned cars and set them on fire in Bishkek.

Protestors appeared to have seized several heavily armored police vehicles and were standing on them waving red Kyrgyz flags and the blue flag of the opposition movement.

The violence came a day after more than 1,000 opposition protesters burst through police lines and took control of government offices in Talas.

And in the central city of Naryn, hundreds of opposition protesters on Wednesday stormed the regional government headquarters after the local governor refused to negotiate.

Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous country perched at the strategic junction between China, Russia and southwest Asia, is among the poorest countries to have emerged from the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.

It has been plagued by corruption and chronic instability and the troubles resemble widespread unrest that washed over the country in March 2005 and resulted in the ouster of President Askar Akayev.

At the meeting, the sides agreed on two things: the authorities must stop firing on their own citizens and they must free the detained opposition leaders

Temir Sariyev, head of the Ak Shumkar opposition