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Kyrgyzstan Unrest

Could Russian meddling be behind the violent unrest in Kyrgyzstan, where NATO maintains a crucial base? Thomas Goltz on why Moscow wants the U.S. to lose Afghanistan.

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D. Dalton Bennett / AP Photo
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Ethnic Uzbeks gather near the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border in southern Kyrgyzstan, seeking refuge in Uzbekistan from mobs of Kyrgyz men attacking the minority Uzbek community. The country's second-largest city, Osh, slid into chaos Friday when gangs of young Kyrgyz men armed with firearms and metal rods marched on Uzbek neighborhoods and set their homes on fire.

D. Dalton Bennett / AP Photo
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Ethnic Uzbek refugees cross the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border on their way back to Kyrgyzstan near the village of Vlksm more than 10 miles outside Osh. The World Health Organization said it was working on a worst-case estimate that the crisis in Kyrgyzstan may affect up to one million people.

Viktor Drachev, AFP / Getty Images
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Ethnic Uzbek women wait by the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border near the village of Vlksm.

Viktor Drachev, AFP / Getty Images
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Ethnic Uzbek men hold posters reading "Thank You, Uzbekistan," "Stop Genocide," and "Stop Fascism," as they rally at the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border.

Sergey Ponomarev / AP Photo
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Kyrgyzstan's interim government leader Rosa Otunbayeva, center, is vowing to work for the return of refugees who have fled deadly ethnic violence.

Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP Photo
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Uzbek men pray during a funeral ceremony for the remains of victims killed during ethnic rioting. The official death count from the past week of violence rose to 189 on Wednesday, with 1,910 wounded, the Health Ministry said.

Sergei Grits / AP Photo
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Kyrgyz Army volunteers patrol the outskirts of Osh. Heavy arms fire rang out over the city before dawn Wednesday as authorities struggled to bring order to the country's south, which has been thrust into chaos by days of deadly ethnic riots.

Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP Photo
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Kyrgyz military vehicles roll through Osh. New reports strengthened suspicions that the violence was deliberately ignited to undermine the interim government.

Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP Photo
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An Uzbek woman, center, who says she fled Osh after her family was killed, weeps as she stands in line waiting for permission to cross into Uzbekistan.

Anvar Ilyasov / AP Photo
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Uzbek emergency workers and volunteers pass traditional flat bread to ethnic Uzbek refugees.

Anvar Ilyasov / AP Photo
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Ethnic Uzbeks residences were torched by Kyrgyz men in Jalal-Abad, Kyrgyzstan. Thousands of Kyrgyz men brandishing sticks, metal bars, and hunting rifles gathered at the city's horse racing track and marched out to burn Uzbek property, while frightened police stayed away.

Zarip Toroyev / AP Photo
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A 14-year-old boy, an ethnic Uzbek, was reportedly shot in the head by a sniper during recent clashes in the village of Naramon, near the Osh airport.

D. Dalton Bennett / AP Photo
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Uzbek Zulfia Sabirova, right, comforts her son Shokruh, 18, after he was allegedly beaten by Kyrgyz soldiers.

Sergei Grits / AP Photo

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