Rights group says Kyrgyz police attack ethnic Uzbek village, killing 2 and wounding 20

Rights group says Kyrgyz police attack Uzbeks

NARIMAN, Kyrgyzstan — Uzbek rights activists say police have attacked an ethnic Uzbek village in southern Kyrgyzstan, killing at least two people and wounding more than 20 others.

The accusation adds to Uzbek claims of official collusion in rampages that killed up to 2,000 people in Central Asia’s worst ethnic violence in decades. It could also discourage some 400,000 ethnic Uzbeks who fled the violence from coming back.

Aziza Abdirasulova of the respected Kalym-Shaly rights group said he believed the mostly ethnic Kyrgyz police were taking revenge for the killing of a local police chief by Uzbeks in last week’s violence. The authorities couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

He says the attack took place in Nariman, on the outskirts of the country’s second-largest city of Osh.