Survivors tell of 'hurricane
of hatred' from gangs in
Uzbek by The Times 20 June 2010
Stunned by the
hurricane of hatred that has devastated their lives and swept away their
homes,
the survivors recounted the same story: the ethnic slaughter in Osh,
they insisted,
was not simply a clash between Kyrgyz and Uzbek groups, but an attempt
to
expel, even exterminate, the Uzbek community in Kyrgyzstan's
second-largest
city.
Police and soldiers, they
said, had
been in the vanguard of mobs that shot unarmed civilians and ransacked
Uzbek
neighbourhoods.
In the ruins of the city's
Uzbek
district of Cheryomushki, traumatised residents described three waves of
attack
as Kyrgyz gangs systematically destroyed their homes in an orgy of
murder,
rape, looting and arson. They claimed that an armoured personnel carrier
led
the initial charge, with men in uniform firing at civilians.
''Soldiers shot at people,
then
Kyrgyz groups went from house to house attacking Uzbeks with knives and
guns," said Kustniden Azhimjanov, 36. ''They raped women in their homes.
We could hear the screaming but we could not help them because we had no
guns.
''Then the third
group came
through,
stealing everything they could and setting fire to the houses. They were
shouting: 'Uzbeks get out or we'll kill you all'!" (Read
more)
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