Soaring Kyrgyzstan Death Toll Feared

Officials fear that ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan may have claimed as many as 2,000 lives and created 400,000 refugees.

Kyrgyzstan's interim president said Friday she believes ethnic clashes in the country's south may have killed as many as 2,000 people.

Roza Otunbayeva made the comments during her first visit to the southern city of Osh since the rioting began.

Kyrgyz Health Ministry officials had said that 191 people died in rampages led mainly by ethnic Kyrgyz against Uzbeks. But Otunbayeva said the number of people killed could be "10 times" the official numbers, according to her spokesman Farid Niyazov.

The interim leader said current figures don't take into account victims buried before sundown on the day of death, in keeping with Muslim tradition, according to the spokesman.

By: Shelldrake