Kyrgyzstan violence: 900 foreigners, including Indians, evacuated

Moscow: Nine hundred foreign nationals, including 78 Indians, were on Monday evacuated from the violence-hit areas of southern Kyrgyzstan where the death toll in five days of ethnic clashes has reached 124. (Read: Nearly 100 Indian students stranded in Kyrgyzstan)

"78 Indians, 77 of them students, evacuated safely from ethnic violence-hit Osh city of Kyrgyzstan to national capital Bishkek," Ministry of External Affairs sources said.

Kyrgyzstan Foreign Ministry announced the evacuation of 900 foreign nationals from ethnic violence-hit areas of the south of the country.

They were evacuated to Bishkek, the country's capital. (See pics)

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Earlier in New Delhi, the Ministry of External Affairs had said that "about 116 Indian nationals were stranded in southern Kyrgyzstan due to the ongoing difficult law and order situation. These include around 15 students in the city of Jalalabad and around 99 students, a professor and a businessman, in the city of Osh.

"Everything possible is being done to ensure the safety and well-being of the Indian nationals, within the constraints posed by the difficult ground situation. Our Mission in Bishkek is monitoring the developments closely and additional steps would be taken as soon as the situation becomes more conducive," the statement from MEA had said.

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Earlier, the official sources told PTI that "all efforts were being made to safely evacuate the Indians stranded there to Bishkek."

Indian diplomatic sources in the Kyrgyz capital had said the mission was arranging for a special aircraft to fly out Indians from Osh. "As soon the situation permits, the Indians will be flown out to safety," sources had said.

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They also maintained that "everything possible will be done to ensure the well being and safety of the Indians."

The sources said the mission was also closely monitoring the situation in the nearby city of Jalalabad near the Uzbek border, where the authorities yesterday clamped a state of emergency till June 22.

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One of those students, Dr Sumita, told NDTV on the phone, "They have cut down the gas...and we can't go out... and whatever groceries are left, we have to do with that. In Osh, the military is shifting all the students to military camps... we are about 100 km away from Osh... so nothing has come to us as aide. We are all staying at a Pakistani friend's place."

Dr Sumita, describes the condition of others, who, like her, are stranded. Listen here.

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Kyrgyz officials have put the casualties at 124 deaths, with as many as 1,685 people injured. However, ethnic Uzbeks alleged many more had been killed and accused government forces of helping Kyrgyz mobs in their deadly rampage.

Ferghanaru website quoting its sources in the Uzbek dominated  areas said "death toll runs in hundreds." It said that scores of dead bodies were lying on the streets of small towns which have compact Uzbek population.

The interim president Roza Otunbayeva has also conceded that the death toll could be higher than official figures as the interim government struggles to stem the worst ethnic clashes since the end of the Soviet Union.

Interim Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva's provisional government had over the weekend given security forces shoot-to-kill orders to protect civilians, amid growing calls from foreign leaders and aid groups to end the clashes.

Meanwhile, Russian President Dmitry Medevdev has said that post-Soviet Security bloc (CSTO) will meet shortly to take action to restore normalcy in Kyrgyzstan.

PTI reports that Pakistan has decided to airlift its students from Kyrgyzstan. (Read: Pak military to airlift students in Kyrgyzstan)

In April, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted and replaced by an interim government.  Local Uzbeks support the provisional government and that had led to a simmering tension for weeks in areas where Bakiyev was popular.

Bakiyev is now in exile in Belarus. (With PTI inputs)