Saturday, May 14 2005 12:37 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Andijan (Uzbekistan): More than 50 people have been killed in fighting in Uzbekistan's fourth-largest city, a doctor said as Government troops continued to move today (May 14, 2005) against gunmen who freed prisoners including 23 men on trial for Islamic extremism.

Clashes resumed this morning in the eastern city of Andijan after a lull overnight, with Uzbek Army troops firing shells from armoured vehicles and using automatic weapons against the gunmen.

"They are now dispersed and we are hunting them down," said an Uzbek soldier.

The violence began late on Thursday (May 12, 2005) after a military garrison was raided for its weapons, with the armed men, believed to number at least 60 to 100, then raiding the jail, freeing more 2,000 prisoners, and taking over Government buildings.

The unrest prompted a violent crackdown by hard line President Islam Karimov in which Government troops opened fire yesterday on a crowd of 5,000 demonstrating against his Government.

Soldiers then fanned throughout the city and by late yesterday (May 13, 2005) the counter-offensive appeared to have brought the city back under control, with Russia's Interfax news agency, quoting local police, reporting that the administration building on the main square had been recaptured after particularly intense fighting.

"There are at least 50 dead," a doctor at Andijan's central hospital told agencies.