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UZBEKISTAN RIOTS REPORTED QUELLED

UZBEKISTAN RIOTS REPORTED QUELLED
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June 12, 1989, Section A, Page 6Buy Reprints
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Troops have regained control of towns and cities in the Soviet Central Asian republic of Uzbekistan after a week of ethnic violence that killed about 100 people, newspapers reported today.

The authorities issued new statements saying that the rioting, the worst reported in the country in decades, was the work of clandestine organizations bent on undermining the economic and political changes of President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

The Communist Party daily Pravda said 7,000 Interior Ministry troops sent to the Fergana Valley, southeast of the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, had re-established order after clashes in which Uzbeks hunted down members of the Meskhetian minority.

''During the last 24 hours, the situation has mainly stabilized and is being controlled in the region's cities and districts by police and Interior Ministry troop units,'' the daily said, quoting the commander of troops in Fergana.

The army newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda said that about 100 people died in the first few days of the disturbances and that 1,000 were injured. #650 Homes Destroyed Reports on Saturday indicated that clashes were spreading toward the neighboring republic of Tadzhikistan and had gone beyond the ethnic issue, degenerating into general rioting.

About 650 homes had been destroyed, and refugee camps had been set up to provide shelter for more than 11,000 Meskhetians - Turkic Georgians deported to Central Asia by Stalin in 1944. About 15,000 live in the Fergana region. The Moscow radio said 400 Meshketians, most of them children, had been flown out of the republic.

Telephone links between Moscow and the region were not functioning and foreign correspondents were barred from the area.

Muslims in Moscow who were in contact with groups in Tashkent, put the last week's death toll at 159. More Attacks Reported

They denied that troops were in control, saying crowds were besieging a police station in the town of Kokand, where 11 people were reported to have died in clashes on Friday.

Krasnaya Zvezda, quoting the deputy head of the Interior Ministry forces, Y. Nechayev, said the riots were being orchestrated by groups opposed to Mr. Gorbachev's perestroika program.

''We believe the actions of extremists are being directed by leaders with vested interests,'' he said.

The newspaper said groups in Kokand had tried to seize three large plants there but had been turned away.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 6 of the National edition with the headline: UZBEKISTAN RIOTS REPORTED QUELLED. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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