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Uzbekistan clears way with arrest

A girl looks up at an Uzbek soldier at the checkpoint in Korasuv at the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border. Government troops retook control of the Uzbek town from rebels and arrested the group's leaders Thursday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Burt Herman Associated Press
A girl looks up at an Uzbek soldier at the checkpoint in Korasuv at the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border. Government troops retook control of the Uzbek town from rebels and arrested the group's leaders Thursday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

KORASUV, Uzbekistan – Breaking through a wooden gate and firing only a single warning shot, Uzbek forces on Thursday captured a rebel leader who had proclaimed plans for an Islamic state in this border town.

The arrest and takeover of the town of 20,000 quelled the last open bastion of resistance to the U.S.-allied government in the volatile Fergana Valley.

Gen. John Abizaid, head of the U.S. Central Command, said the U.S. military has scaled back its operations from Uzbekistan since the violence broke out last Friday.

American forces operate out of an air base in the country in support of operations in Afghanistan.

“We have decided to make sure that we’re cautious about how we’re operating,” the general told a small group of reporters Wednesday, according to a Pentagon transcript.

Abizaid said the change was not meant to be a message to Uzbekistan’s government.

The crackdown in Korasuv came as the Uzbek Foreign Ministry condemned Kyrgyzstan for letting more than 500 Uzbeks fleeing the violence cross the border, and said weak border controls had led to “serious riots” and actions staged by religious groups.

“The situation may spin out of control if they (Kyrgyz border authorities) continue to take unnecessary steps,” the ministry said in a note given to the Kyrgyz ambassador and made public Thursday.

Followers of Bakhtiyor Rakhimov, a farmer turned rebel leader, had claimed control of Korasuv on Saturday during the chaos that followed the uprising 20 miles away in the city of Andijan, where witnesses said Uzbek forces killed hundreds of protesters – most of whom were complaining about economic conditions.

Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov said Thursday he opposes an international investigation into the worst violence since the country’s independence in 1991, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said, after speaking with Karimov on the phone.

“He said he had the situation under control and was taking every measure to bring those responsible to account and didn’t need an international team to establish the facts,” Annan told the Associated Press.

The government says 169 people died in the city of Andijan, but opposition activists say more than 700 were killed – over 500 in Andijan and about 200 in nearby Pakhtabad – most of them civilians.

Karimov’s government has denied that troops fired at civilians, and Karimov blamed Islamic militants for the unrest.