Over 2,200 evacuated from south Kyrgyzstan, including 700 children

15:16, 15 June 2010

MOSCOW. June 15. KAZINFORM More than 2,200 people have been evacuated from southern Kyrgyzstan, where ethnic violence has killed at least 170 people, Kyrgyz 24.kg news agency cited the head of the civil aviation agency as saying on Tuesday; Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti.

Alexander Nastaev said during the last two days 1,550 adults and 700 children were evacuated from the country.

"Yesterday we sent home 580 foreign residents - to Turkey, Pakistan, Turkmenistan," Nastaev said.

The death toll from the unrest continues to rise, and the government said the 826 people were hospitalized as a result of the clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek that swept through the country's second-largest city of Osh and another southern city of Jalal-Abad starting on Thursday and continuing through the weekend.

Tens of thousands of ethnic Uzbeks have fled across the border to Uzbekistan to escape the rioting, which has seen cars set on fire and stores, markets and residential buildings smashed, looted and burned; Kazinform cites RIA Novosti.

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