Kyrgyzstan city in flames after ethnic violence

Bishkek: Ethnic rioting has spread in southern Kyrgyzstan, where more than 100 people have been killed and over 1,000 wounded.

The previous death toll stood at 80.

Thousands of Uzbeks fled in panic on Sunday after their homes were torched by roving mobs of Kyrgyz men and more Uzbek settlements have come under attack.

According to their latest figures 1,063 had been injured in the violence, the health ministry said.

On Saturday, Kyrgyzstan ordered the partial mobilisation of the army after nearly three days of deadly clashes and gave police and army authorisation to shoot to kill on any groups using firearms.

On Friday, the interim government declared a state of emergency in Osh and several neighbouring districts, imposing overnight curfews in a bid to contain the violence.

However, by Saturday the violence had spread to the southern city of Jalabad.

Baktybek Alymbekov, a deputy interior minister named commander of Osh in the wake of the violence, said Sunday the situation had improved there.

"For the moment, there are no sites of conflict, just small offences... The situation has become a lot calmer," he told national television.

The governor of Jalalabad Bektur Assanov said the situation there was still worrying. Gunfire could still be heard there on Sunday morning.

"It's true there is shooting in Jalalabad," he said on national television.

Police officers had been deployed to the city centre to tackle the more "aggressive" protesters, he said, while stressing that they were firing warning shots.

The administration on Saturday appealed to retired police and army officers to travel to the region to help stem the violence.

But a call to Russia for military help has not so far received a positive response.

While Moscow said it was rushing humanitarian aid to the former Soviet Central Asian republic, a spokeswoman for President Dmitry Medvedev said it would not yet send troops.

Since April's uprising, which ousted Bakiyev and left 87 people dead, foreign leaders have warned of the danger of civil war in the strategically vital state, which hosts both US and Russian military bases.