Violence in Uzbekistan (Part III)

The violence continues in Uzbekistan as it spreads throughout neighboring towns.

The violence that has reportedly killed hundreds of protesters in eastern Uzbekistan appeared to be spreading to neighboring towns last night, raising fears that the volatile Central Asian state could erupt into a full-scale revolution.

One local official was reported by the Russian Interfax news agency to have been heavily beaten by rioters. The Uzbek President, Islam Karimov, claimed that troops had opened fire on protesters in Andijan only when they were advanced on.

Galima Bukharbaeva, a reporter with international monitoring group the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, who witnessed the killings, described a column of armoured personnel carriers firing indiscriminately and unprovoked at protesters.

Also in new clashes in Uzbekistan eight soldiers died near the Kyrgyzstan border.

According to the Associated Press, the eyewitnesses in Tefektosh said that a clash occurred between the armed people, and soldiers before dawn this morning, on May 15. The eyewitnesses reported that the armed people killed 8 soldiers and then run away to the Kyrgyz border.

More from the CNN on the eight soldiers killed and three Islamic militants died in a clash near the Kyrgyz border Sunday.

Residents’ accounts of the fighting in Tefektosh could not be independently confirmed, but blood stains were visible on the pavement, AP reported.

For more great coverage and video on the Uzbekistan violence go to the Gateway Pundit.