Uzbek forces capture Islamic rebel leader
Breaking through a wooden gate and firing only a single warning shot, Uzbek forces recaptured a local leader who had proclaimed plans for an Islamic state - quelling what appeared to be the last open resistance to the government.
Meanwhile, the Uzbek foreign ministry condemned neighbouring Kyrgyzstan for letting more than 500 Uzbeks flee the violence cross the border, and said weak controls had led to "serious riots" and actions staged by religious groups.
"The local Kyrgyz authorities didn't control the situation," the ministry said in a note handed to the Kyrgyz ambassador. "The situation may spin out of control if they continue to fail to take necessary steps."
In a sign of concern about the situation in Uzbekistan, a key US ally in the war on terrorism, Gen John Abizaid, head of US Central Command, said the US military had scaled back its operations from the Central Asian state since violence broke out late last week.
US forces operate out of an air base in the country in support of its operations in Afghanistan. The base in Khanabad is in southern Uzbekistan, several hundred miles from the unrest in the east of the country.
"We have decided to make sure that we're cautious about how we're operating," he said, according to a Pentagon transcript of his comments to a small group of reporters made available a day later.
He said the change was not meant to be a message to Uzbekistan's government.
Asked about who was driving the violence, he said: "I think this is a level of violence that's coming probably from a lot of different groups that aren't altogether clear to me, but I would not necessarily characterise them in one way or the other."
Followers of Bakhtiyor Rakhimov, a farmer-turned rebel leader, took control of the border town of Korasuv on Saturday, following a protest in nearby Andijan where witnesses said Uzbek forces killed hundreds. The government has denied its troops opened fire on innocent civilians in Andijan. It says 169 people were killed in clashes between authorities and militants.
Rakhimov claimed to have 5,000 supporters in Korasuv, who were prepared to defend the town with knives.
But government forces appeared to moved in before sunrise yesterday, unopposed. At Rakhimov's two-storey brick home on the edge of town, about 30 special forces troops broke down the gate, his sister, Yulduz Rakhimova, said, displaying the wooden shards.
The soldiers went to Rakhimov's room, ordered him to get dressed and then they beat him, Rakhimova said.
Helicopter gunships circled the grey skies above Korasuv, while police roamed the streets wearing military-style helmets and bulletproof vests. A small knot of soldiers guarded the entrance to the local administration building on the main square while residents strolled by or rode bicycles, the main form of transport in the impoverished town of about 20,000 people.
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