Southern Kyrgyzstan turned into a new hot spot on the post-Soviet map last week, with at least 170 people killed in the Central Asian republic in five days of ethnic violence.
Hundreds were injured in clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbek residents that began in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh on Thursday and then spread to the wider region. Tens of thousands of ethnic Uzbeks, who make up about half the population in the area, have fled to neighboring Uzbekistan.
Leading Russian business daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday that there were three versions of what happened and who is responsible.
A few young Kyrgyz residents of Osh told Kommersant that Uzbeks were to blame as they raped Kyrgyz women in a dormitory.
"Uzbeks prepared for war for three years. They turned the 'southern capital' [Osh] into a Wahhabi den and brought mercenaries... They have arsenals of weapons in their houses and mosques: bags of ammunition, machineguns, sniper rifles," a young Kyrgyz, Sultan, said.
Adylbek Zhanbayev, the chief surgeon of a regional hospital, said there were almost equal numbers of Uzbeks and Kyrgyz killed and injured.
Uzbeks say they were attacked by Kyrgyz. "They attacked us immediately after the morning prayer," an Uzbek woman said.
"They were armed and we were not," said Zeba Nishanbayeva, who recently buried her brother. "Their snipers only shoot Uzbeks."
Uzbeks, who do not want to leave Osh, say: "The Kyrgyz came first to take our houses and property."
The third version - promoted first of all by the government in Bishkek - is that the massacre was started by people from the entourage of deposed president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who hails from the country's south.
"Bakiyev paid killers who shot us and Kyrgyz. He either took revenge in this way or wanted to show that there can be no order in the country without him," Nasyr, an Uzbek, said.
The governor of the Osh Region, Sooronbai Zheenbekov said: "These are Bakiyev's forces - his sons and the sons of his brothers. There are about 100 provocateurs in the city as well as mercenary snipers."
Zheenbekov said Russia should help Kyrgyzstan, but Moscow has proven reluctant to go beyond major financial, humanitarian and diplomatic support for the new government, which took power in April when Bakiyev was ousted amid violent protests.
MOSCOW, June 15 (RIA Novosti)
