Prez denies firing ordered

The government is an ally of both Moscow and Washington’s ‘‘war on terror’’ and has been widely accused of severe repression of political opponents. Few observers expected the uprising in Andizhan to emulate the success of the March rebellion in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan which led to the overthrow of its President. But Karimov said: ‘‘They had hoped that the chaos that we saw in Kyrgyzstan would help them. But the situation in Uzbekistan is different to Kyrgyzstan and our people’s goals are different from the misery of the Kyrgyz people.’’

Russian news agencies said Karimov called Russian President Vladimir Putin and both expressed concern at the danger of destabilisation in Central Asia. The EU and NATO called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Karimov denied any order was given to troops to open fire. He said rebels who seized a state building belonged to the outlawed Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, who, however, denied involvment. ‘‘I know that you want to know who gave the order to fire at them … No one ordered (troops) to fire at them,’’ said Karimov.

Karimov, in power since 1989, said there was a higher number of rebel casualties, but made no mention of dead or wounded among protesters. He said 10 police and troops were killed and 100 wounded during violence which started when rebels sprung comrades, charged with religious extremism, from jail and then seized a state building.

But a human rights campaigner in Andizhan, Saidzhakhon Zainabitdinov from the Uzbek rights group Appeal, said over phone: ‘‘The number of deaths could reach 500 people from both sides.’’

Guards said around 4,000 people fled to Kara-Su on the closed border. At another point, 500 people forced their way across. —Reuters