Kyrgyz authorities said they regained control across the volatile south today after at least two people died in violent clashes with supporters of the ousted president.
Officials and witnesses said interim government forces took back the administration headquarters in Osh and Jalalabad a day after backers of Kurmanbek Bakiyev seized the buildings in a challenge to the new government's fragile authority.
The showdown in southern Kyrgyzstan underscored the persistent turbulence in the strategically placed ex-Soviet republic which hosts US and Russian military air bases.
Bakiyev supporters on Thursday seized the government headquarters in all three southern provinces - Osh, Jalalabad and Batken. Interim authorities said they regained control in remote Batken late on Thursday.
Today, a crowd of supporters marched to the government headquarters in Osh, the chief southern city, and took it over after scuffling with guards. No serious injuries were reported.
In Jalalabad, a day-long confrontation that left two people dead and dozens wounded ended when interim government supporters took control of the administration building, officials said.
"Supporters of the interim government have taken over the administration building," local interim government official Zamir Sabirov told Reuters by telephone. "Bakiyev's backers have fled."
At least one person died after surgery for a gunshot wound following the initial clash, according to the health ministry. Another was killed in a second outbreak of gunfire hours later, interim government spokesman Farid Niyazov said.
At least 37 others were wounded, 10 of them with gunshot wounds, the health ministry said.
The takeovers in the south, Mr Bakiyev's power base in five years as president, were the biggest challenge yet to the interim government that claimed power following his overthrow.
Mr Bakiyev fled Kyrgyzstan after the April 7th-8th uprising and has taken refuge in Belarus. In April, at least 85 people died in clashes between opposition protesters, some of them armed, and government forces who opened fire on crowds.
Interim authorities said Mr Bakiyev was behind the seizures of government buildings, which they described as a coup attempt, and said they had detained a Bakiyev ally they said masterminded the unrest.
"Bakiyev is behind all this," interim government deputy chairman Omurbek Tekebayev said on state television.
Interim government chief of staff Edil Baisalov said Usen Sydykov, a former Bakiyev adviser, was detained near Osh overnight and arrested on charges of organising mass disturbances and trying to seize power.
An impoverished country, Kyrgyzstan plays an important geopolitical role because of its proximity to Afghanistan.
Last month's upheaval disrupted operations at the US Manas air base, a refuelling and transit hub for thousands of military personnel heading in and out of Afghanistan every month.
Also home to a complicated patchwork of ethnic and tribal rivalries, Kyrgyzstan risks ethnic tension and Islamic extremism in the overpopulated Ferghana Valley, which straddles the twisting borders dividing it from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
The United States and Russia, which also has an air base in Kyrgyzstan, have expressed support for the interim government, which has promised new elections in October.
Russia has appointed a special envoy who was expected to arrive in Kyrgyzstan later on Friday.
Reuters