The Command Post - Global Recon

Dan Darling: Analysis of the Current Uzbek Violence

I wanted to do an in-depth post on the Uzbek unrest last night, but a variety of events prevented me from doing so. I figure it’s usually better to be as accurate as possible rather than first, so I’ll try to provide as best a primer as I can, though I want everyone reading this to understand that the situation and the facts surrounding it are rather fluid and subject to change as things in Uzbekistan and our understanding of them develop. I also want to stress that I am not a Central Asia expert, Nathan is, so I of course defer to him on all this stuff. You can see some of his links in today’s Winds of War briefing.

• Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan Backgrounder and the Al-Qaeda Connection
• Some Uzbek Caveats…
• Addendum: Uzbeks in Pakistan

450 Feared Killed in Uzbek Clashes/Updates

The streets of the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan are mostly empty after two days of clashes between soldiers and anti-government protesters that left hundreds dead, witnesses said.

Residents who fled Andijan 40 kilometers (25 miles) south to the Kyrgyz border town of Kara-Suu estimated the number killed on Friday and Saturday at 450, but journalists were barred from the area and could not independently confirm the death toll.
[…]

United Nations relief experts were dispatched along the border to assess the needs of refugees, although there did not appear to be a mass exodus from the region into Kyrgyzstan. On Saturday, a U.N. official said 528 people from Uzbekistan crossed the border into the Jalal-Abad area of Kyrgyzstan.

• Streets blocked after Uzbek violence

Soldiers in Uzbekistan have sealed off part of the eastern city of Andijan where soldiers opened fire on groups of demonstrators on Friday.

At least three armoured vehicles and many troops are blocking the streets around the old quarter of the city near a huge bazaar and the main mosque.

Residents cannot cross the lines to find out why but it seems likely that the military is searching for the leaders of Friday’s demonstration.

• Reuters: Facts abotu Uzbekistan

• Militants blamed for Uzbek violence

President Islam Karimov said Islamic extremists were at the root of unrest in the former Soviet republic.

• TCP contributor Joe Gandelman has more at The Moderate Voice

• Guardian: Uzbekistan on the brink as clashes spread

'Hundreds dead' in Uzbek violence/Updates [updated]

Human rights monitors say hundreds of people were killed by Uzbek government soldiers in the wake of Friday’s violent anti-government protest in the eastern city of Andijan, Russia’s Interfax news agency has reported.

An estimated 3,500 refugees fled Andijan Saturday, gathering a few miles to the south at the Kyrgyzstan border, which was finally opened to them, Interfax reported.

The unprecedented violence began early Thursday when a group of local citizens angry about the arrest of several prominent business owners stormed the prison where they were being held.

CNN map

Protests Flare Again as Bodies Put on Display

Demonstrators, some with tears in their eyes, angrily condemned the government for firing on women and children.

Lutfulo Shamsutdinov, the head of the Independent Human Rights Organisation of Uzbekistan, said he had seen bodies of about 200 victims being loaded onto trucks near the square in the city of Andijan.

No government forces were at the square early today, but a few blocks away, about 30 soldiers clad in flak jackets and armed with assault rifles stood ready for action.

Soldiers fire on Uzbek protesters

Soldiers loaded dead bodies onto a bus in eastern Uzbekistan today after blocking families from collecting them, a witness said, as gunfire echoed across the city a day after troops opened fire on thousands of demonstrators.

A witness in central Andijan told the Associated Press that “many, many dead bodies are stacked up by a school near the square,” where soldiers Friday put down an uprising that began when armed men freed 2,000 inmates from prison, including suspects on trial for alleged Islamist extremism.

The witness said soldiers early today blocked friends and relatives from collecting about 15 bodies, and later loaded them onto a bus and took them away.

Fresh gunfire was heard in central Andijan today, but the streets appeared largely quiet, with most of the city’s 350,000 people in their homes.

Gateway Pundit has much more, including video

TCP contributor Nathan has so much more, just start at the top and scroll down.