BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- An investigation into post-coup violence in the south of Kyrgyzstan shows the country isn't ready to face the facts, a Central Asian researcher said.
An official investigation into ethnic violence that gripped parts of southern Kyrgyzstan after an April coup forced Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to flee the country blamed Uzbek leaders and Bakiyev backers for the conflict, the BBC reports.
Abdygany Erkebayev, who led the commission in Bishkek, said 276 Uzbeks and 105 Krygyzs were killed in the violence.
He said the events were sparked by "people with extremist views" but later singled out supporters of the ousted president for the violence.
"Bakiyev's circle bankrolled the militants and several relatives of the ex-president Bakiyev also took up arms to participate in those events," he was quoted as saying.
The government has fought for control since the April coup. Hundreds were killed during summer violence between Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks in the southern regions of Osh and Jalal Abad.
Erica Marat, a Central Asian scholar at Johns Hopkins University, told the BBC the official investigation left many stones unturned in Bishkek.
"The findings showed that the government was not ready to provide an honest investigation of what happened in June," she said.
