ANDIJON, Uzbekistan, May 18 (UPI) -- Yielding to international pressure, Uzbekistan granted foreign diplomats access Wednesday to the town where government troops opened fire on crowds last week.
Andijon residents told Radio Free Europe the town had been hastily cleaned up and streets washed before the group's tightly controlled tour following violence last Friday. The group was not allowed to speak to citizens.
Uzbek Prosecutor-General Rashid Qodirov said Tuesday 169 people died in Andijon on May 13, among them 32 government soldiers. Most of the others, he said, were armed terrorists, including foreigners.
However, a local army source told the BBC 500 in favor of establishing an Islamic administration were killed.
President Islam Karimov, who has led the former Soviet republic for 16 years, insists the toll of 500 is media distortion.
"They want to make people in Europe, the United States, and the West in general think that there are such despots and that there is such tyranny in Uzbekistan that they shoot at peaceful people," Karimov said.
