Kyrgyz revolt leaves dozens dead

Opposition leaders declared a revolution in this Central Asian nation. The opposition has called for the closure of a U.S. airbase on the outskirts of the capital that serves as an important transit point for sending supplies to the international forces fighting in Afghanistan.

Department of State said transport operations at the base of Manas were “operating normally”.

This mountainous former Soviet republic came into chaos after an elite unit of police opened fire on crowds of demonstrators, called by opposition parties for a day of protests in the capital, Bishkek.

The Health Ministry said 40 people were killed and over 400 injured in clashes with police. Umetalieva Toktoim opposition activist had previously said that a hundred people died when police opened fire.

One of the hospitals in Bishkek wounded dozens of demonstrators filled the corridors, a block of the main square. Doctors were not cope with the multitude of patients. Some nurses were inclined crying over the corpses, doctors talked to the cries and the floors were covered with blood.

The crowd of protesters stormed the building of state television, which looted and marched to the Interior Ministry, according to Associated Press reporters at the event. But the squad changed direction and attacked a building of national security.

The protesters were driven back by security forces loyal to President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, which were unaccounted for.

Opposition and their supporters seemed to be an advantage to the government after dark. An AP reporter saw the opposition leader Keneshbek Duishebayev was sitting in the office of chief of the National Security Agency, successor to the KGB in Kyrgyzstan.

Duishebayev gave orders in telephone to persons who he said were security agents. It also gave directions for special forces.

“We have created units to restore order” in the streets, said Duishebayev. The opposition leader said he could have escaped Bakiyev to Osh, the second largest city, where he has a home.

Since coming to power in 2005, during a wave of protests street known as the Tulip Revolution, Bakiyev had ensured stability, but many observers believe he has done at the expense of democratic guarantees and he has exploited to enrich himself and his family, which also has important government posts, including his own son. Bakiyev now faces the same charges of corruption and nepotism that led to depose his predecessor.

In the last two years the Kyrgyz authorities have taken repressive actions against the independent media and activists opposition say they have been subjected to physical intimidation on a regular basis and have been under criminal investigation motivated by their political preferences.

Indeed, many opposition leaders were often allies of Bakiyev in some cases were even ministers and diplomats.

antigovernment forces in Kyrgyzstde1an were not organized, was until recently, when there was widespread dissatisfaction by a 200% increase in prices electricity and heating oil, which were consolidated and increased their support.

Many of the protesters gathered on Wednesday were men from poor, including some who had come to the capital live and work in construction.

The Kyrgyz are secular Muslims, but Islamic feelings did not appear to be weight lifting, but rather the rejection of the increase in prices and charges corruption against Bakiyev.

Murat Shamil opposition activist told the AP that the Interior Minister Moldomusa Kongatiyev, was beaten to death by a mob in Talas, the city west of the country where protests began on the eve, but the influential website Fergana.ru Kongatiyev said was seriously injured but not dead and that its own reporter saw the incident.