Kyrgyz troops stormed jails and took them back under control today, leaving four inmates dead, after prisoners staged a wave of riots and break-out attempts in the Central Asian state.
At Prison No. 31, 25 km from the capital Bishkek, special forces used dozens of interior ministry troops and armoured personnel carriers to put down one mutiny that had lasted nearly two weeks.
Inmates had taken control of the prison near the village of Moldavanovka in rioting over poor living conditions that swept prisons across the impoverished country on October 20th. A parliamentarian and two other people were killed then.
The violence, that was compounded by coordinated rioting involving at least five prisons and one detention centre, underscored Kyrgyzstan's political instability following the ousting of President Askar Akayev in March.
President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was sworn in in August after pledging to root out corruption and rampant crime, threatened to sack the government if an investigation into the murder of the parliamentarian in prison found fault with officials.
In the operation against Prison No. 31, grenades, submachine guns, rifles and pistols were seized in the jail - a set of drab barracks where inmates were treated for tuberculosis.
Prosecutor Kuvan Mamakeyev told a news briefing the troops had killed two inmates in Moldavanovka and another two at a jail in Petrovka, about 60 km west of Bishkek. Two inmates were wounded, he added.
The protests were well coordinated by prisoners using mobile phones, officials said.
"A wave of rioting swept across practically all the jails and detention centres across the country," said Deputy Justice Minister Sergei Zubov. "Inmates approached prison gates and tried to escape en-masse or tried to break through cell doors."
"After it was all over, I told them at Prison No. 31, 'You must understand now that our armour is solid and our tanks are fast. If you wish, we will use force again'," said Kapar Mukeyev, a prisons service chief who was slightly wounded. Last month Kyrgyzstan ordered guards and staff to leave all jails because of safety fears after the deaths at Prison No. 31. Apart from the parliamentarian and two of his staff, the head of the Kyrgyz prisons service also died later from serious wounds.
Prison staff returned to many jails shortly after that riot, but Prison No. 31 and several others had remained in the control of criminals.
This Reuters photographer working at the scene reported that the shooting at Prison No. 31 on Tuesday continued for some time even after special forces managed to capture Aziz Batukayev, a criminal who officials say was behind the riot.
"They (soldiers) beat him in front of the jail - apparently to intimidate other inmates - and took him to an SNB (security service) prison in Bishkek," Batukayev's sister, Yakha, told reporters.