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Number of Uzbek refugees from Kyrgyzstan grows to 83,000

© Sputnik / Andrey Stenin / Go to the mediabankNumber of Uzbek refugees from Kyrgyzstan grows to 83,000
Number of Uzbek refugees from Kyrgyzstan grows to 83,000  - Sputnik International
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About 83,000 ethnic Uzbeks have fled to Uzbekistan from Kyrgyzstan, where ethnic violence has killed at least 170 people, an Uzbek emergencies ministry spokesman said on Tuesday

About 83,000 ethnic Uzbeks have fled to Uzbekistan from Kyrgyzstan, where ethnic violence has killed at least 170 people, an Uzbek emergencies ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.

Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Aripov said on Monday that "the entry of the refugees from Kyrgyzstan is limited because of the high numbers that have already come to the republic."

Aripov said only the injured, women and children were being allowed to cross the border. Neighboring Uzbekistan hastily set up camps to handle the flood of hungry, frightened refugees.

The death toll from the unrest continues to rise, and the government said the 826 people were hospitalized as a result of the clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek that swept through the country's second-largest city of Osh and another southern city of Jalal-Abad starting on Thursday and continuing through the weekend.

Osh is just 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the border and the main road to Jalal-Abad, itself less than 10 km from the border, passes through Uzbekistan.

The southern Kyrgyz cities have seen cars set on fire and stores, markets and residential buildings smashed, looted and burned.

The United States and Russia, which both have military airbases near the capital, Bishkek, away from the violence in the north of the country, worked on airlifting in humanitarian aid, as did the United Nations.

The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting on Monday, urging an end to the bloodshed and demanding that humanitarian aid be delivered unimpeded to all needy civilians.

Russia will send on Wednesday three planeloads of humanitarian aid to Kyrgyzstan, Russian emergencies ministry Nikolai Pakhomov said.

Pakhomov said three Il-76s transport aircraft would send blankets and food supplies to Bishkek.

The World Health Organization has already sent humanitarian help to Osh. Several planes arrived at Osh's airport with tons of medical supplies. Trucks carried supplies into the city with an armed escort. In Bishkek, volunteer paramilitaries prepared to depart for Osh as part of a peacekeeping effort.

Meanwhile, the deputy head of the Kyrgyz interim government, Almazbek Atambayev, said Kyrgyz authorities were ready for the new outbursts of violence in the North.

"That tragedy that occurred in the south was well-planned and well-financed. We should expect such acts of provocation in the Chuy region [in the north of the republic] and Bishkek".

ANDIJAN (Uzbekistan), June 15 (RIA Novosti)

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