Uzbeks 'threatening to blow up Kyrgyzstan oil depot'

Heavy arms fire sounded over the city of Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan yesterday amid reports that ethnic Uzbeks had blockaded an oil depot and were threatening to blow it up. The BBC reported that the group of Uzbeks were threatening to blow up the depot , on the outskirts of Osh, if the government tried to break up the blockade. They said they were hoping for UN peacekeepers to intervene. The city remains under strict curfew, six days after violence erupted between the majority Kyrgyz population and Uzbeks. The official death toll from the violence has risen to 179, with at least 1,870 people having been injured. One of the few Uzbek families to remain in Osh today said a mother of two had been killed by shrapnel from a shell launched towards their home by the Kyrgyz military. The ethnic violence – which the UN said was orchestrated – has prompted more than 100,000 Uzbeks to flee to Uzbekistan, with tens of thousands more camped on the Kyrgyz side of the border or stranded in no man's land. Humanitarian aid has started to arrive via Uzbekistan, although some supplies coming via Osh have reportedly been intercepted and volunteers attacked. The Kyrgyz interim government leader, Roza Otunbayeva, met EU representatives today to discuss the crisis. The new government has accused the deposed president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, an ethnic Kyrgyz, of instigating the violence. Bakiyev, who is in exile in Belarus, has denied any involvement. The government says it is determined to hold a scheduled referendum on 27 June to vote on constitutional changes which it says will make Kyrgyzstan more democratic. However, if violence flares again the vote will be next to impossible to organise. Yesterday the UN said there was strong evidence that the violence was "targeted and well-planned in advance".