Kyrgyzstan clashes

The Kyrgyz opposition said on Thursday it had taken control of nearly all of the country and that a former foreign minister, Roza Otunbayeva, would head a caretaker government for six months.

Otunbayeva, who led the opposition to Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's government, told reporters on Thursday that the current constitution would remain in place until a new one was passed by referendum.

Opposition protestors seized Kyrgyz government headquarters late Wednesday following clashes between protesters and security forces that reportedly killed at least 65 people.

Opposition controls the military

The self-proclaimed government's defense minister, Ishmail Isakov, said the country's armed forces and border guards were under its control.

"Military force will be never again be used to solve domestic matters," he said.

There were conflicting reports concerning the whereabouts of President Bakiyev, who had fled the capital of the strategically important Central Asian state during the riots.

Germany's dpa news agency quotes Kyrgyz media as saying he has declared his resignation.

Conflicting reports

The opposition said Bakiyev had returned to his home region of Jalalabad in the south to rally supporters and defend his position.

"We want to negotiate his resignation," Otunbayeva told reporters in the capital Bishkek. "His business here is over."

It is not clear how many people have died so far during the clashes. The opposition claims up to 100 are dead, while the Health Ministry says 65 people died, with a further 400 injured when an estimated 5,000 protesters took to the streets in Bishkek on Wednesday to demand Bakiyev's resignation.

Reports have circulated that Interior Minister Moldomussa Kongantiyev is dead. Opposition activist Shamil Murat told the AP news agency he saw Kongantiyev's dead body after protesters attacked him in the western city of Talas.

However, AFP news agency quoted an interior ministry spokesperson who denied that Kongantiyev had been killed.

Corruption and economy key concerns

The umbrella group for opposition parties, the United Opposition Movement, is demanding that Bakiyev remove cronies and relatives from key positions and do something about government corruption.

They are also angry about a clampdown on human rights and economic decline in the country, which saw its economy grow by just 2.3 percent in 2009 compared to 8.4 percent the previous year.

Bakiyev was elected in a popular revolt in 2005, but elections in 2007 which kept him in power were widely criticized.

China deeply concerned

China, which shares a border with Kyrgyzstan, on Thursday voiced concern about the situation. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that China hopes order in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek and other areas can be restored as soon as possible.

The United States, which maintains an airbase in Kyrgyzstan vital to the NATO campaign in Afghanistan, has condemned the violence. The US has a military air base supporting troops in Afghanistan in the Kyrgyz city of Manas and is a major donor to Kyrgyzstan, along with China and Russia, which also has military base in the former Soviet state.

Otunbayeva said the new government would preserve an agreement allowing the U.S. base to operate.

"Its status quo will remain in place. We still have some questions on it. Give us time and we will listen to all the sides and solve everything," she said.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has also called on Bishkek to "seek a dialogue" and has offered its help in solving Kyrgyzstan's problems.

db/AP/Reuters/dpa

Editor: Kyle James