BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, April 20 (UPI) -- Kyrgyzstan's interim government is struggling to contain political violence in the country, as at least five people were killed in riots near Bishkek.
Hundreds of police officers tried to stop Monday's riots in a village near Bishkek, BBC News reports. The rioters tried to seize land from ethnic Russians and Turks in the village of Mayevka, with the subsequent fighting killing five people.
"All the provocateurs and ringleaders in the riots will be punished to the full extent of the law," Kyrgyzstan's interim government said in a statement Tuesday.
The country's interim government, led by Roza Otunbayeva, is under pressure to contain the violence amid fears that a civil war could break out.
The new government has been in power since April 7, when President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted. The former leader has turned up in Belarus, after several days during which his location was unknown. His supporters have been rallying in his stronghold in southern Kyrgyzstan.
Kyrgyzstan is home to a key U.S. air base in Manas, which is used to fly troops and equipment in and out of Afghanistan.
