Osh residents refuse to surrender arms, veterans urge to stop bloodshed.

BISHKEK, June 14 (Itar-Tass) -- Residents of Osh districts refuse to
surrender arms, witnesses told Itar-Tass on Monday.
In their words, residents of Osh suburbs of On-Adyr and Nariman refuse
to follow order of the region's commandant and stop violence.
Contradictory reports are coming from a settlement located between the
city and the airport. Shootings are reported to be heard from there,
although local residents say the military and police have managed to take
the situation under control.
From time to time, the military are forced into exchange of fire with
armed groups, which refuse to surrender, local residents say. In their
words, several Osh districts have been burnt to the ground. Shops and
markets have been plundered. There is a shortage of food.
On Sunday, leaders of Uzbek and Kyrgyz communities were reported to
agree to stop clashes.
Meanwhile, veterans of World War II, law enforcement agencies and
police have called on rioters to stop violence.
"We urge ethnic Kyrgyzs, Uzbeks, Russians, Kazakhs, Tajiks, Koreans,
Tatars, Dungans and other nationals not to yield to provocations, to
rebuff any instigators," the veterans said in a statement circulated here
on Monday. "Veterans must pursue people's diplomacy to stop the bloodshed,
to support servicemen and police officers and help them maintain law and
order.
The veterans also called on the population to report any facts of
plotted disorders or their instigators.
Massive disorders and clashes between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyzs flared
up in the country's second largest city of Osh overnight to June 11. The
following day the riots spread to the neighbouring Jalal-Abad region. The
state of emergency and curfew were imposed in the conflict-gripped areas.
On Saturday, interim president Roza Otunbayeva admitted that the republic
was unable to settle the situation and asked Russia for military help. She
held responsible deposed president Kurmanbek Bakiyev's brothers and
relatives for being behind this next round of violence. According to
Otunbayeva, they sponsored the organization of clashes and provided arms.
The former president however said he had nothing to do with the violence
in the republic's southern regions.
The Kyrgyz authorities have sent extra army and police units to Osh
and Jalal-Abad and authorized the use of arms in case of emergency. The
interim government has also legalized voluntary public order squads and
undertook to finance them. Kyrgyzstan's provisional government has ordered
a partial mobilization of reservists. All units of the national Armed
Forces were ordered to assume wartime posture.
According to latest reports, the death toll from inter-ethnic clashes
in Kyrgyzstan has reached 117. More than 1,400 people have sought medical
assistance, of whom 742 have been hospitalised, in the past three days,
sources in Kyrgyzstan's ministry of health told Itar-Tass. Many were
hospitalised with gunfire wounds. The list of those killed includes police
officers, a border guard, a lawmaker from the Osh Council, and an officer
from the emergencies ministry.
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