Uznews.net – Unidentified people carried out fresh attacks on homes of ethnic Uzbeks in Nookent District in Kyrgyzstan’s Jalalabad Region overnight on Saturday and burnt down several houses.

One of Uzbek community leaders in Bazarkurgan District, human rights activist Muhammadkadyr Karabayev said that according to his information, the attacks had been carried out by a group of ethnic Kyrgyz.

They raided the predominantly ethnic Uzbek village of Masi at night and organised pogroms. “The attackers robbed and burnt down five houses,” Karabayev claimed.

Human rights activists think the attack was not accidental. The village of Masi avoided pogroms in June and its population remained tolerant towards ethnic
Kyrgyz.

A Jalalabad-based journalist called Alisher (the name was altered) could not confirm the information about the violence in Masi, but he said that the situation in southern Kyrgyzstan remains very unstable and unpredictable and violence might erupt any moment there.

“We always hear about new attacks and the atmosphere remains very hostile towards ethnic Uzbeks,” Alisher said. “A powerful blast was heard in Jalalabad overnight on Saturday. No-one knows what that was but people are getting used to life as if in war.”