GEO 436 OSH, Kyrgyzstan: Kyrgyzstan’’s acting leader admitted Friday that the death toll from ethnic clashes is probably 2,000 — ten times the current estimate — as she went to the ravaged south where the UN said up to a million people may have been affected. Both a US envoy and the UN Human Rights Council meanwhile urged investigations into the clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks, which sent tens of thousands fleeing into neighbouring Uzbekistan. On the same day she made her first visit to the devastated city of Osh since unrest erupted one week ago, interim leader Roza Otunbayeva said that the official death toll, which the health ministry said Friday had reached 192, was vastly underestimated. “I would increase the official death toll from southern Kyrgyzstan by ten times,” Otunbayeva said in comments broadcast on national radio. “There were very many deaths in the countryside, and our customs dictate that we bury our dead right away, before sunset,” meaning that many bodies were buried before deaths could be registered with authorities, she said. Wearing a bullet-proof vest and accompanied by a heavy security detail, Otunbayeva landed by helicopter in the centre of Osh, some 300 kilometres (186 miles) south of the capital Bishkek. “I came here to see, to speak with the people and hear firsthand what happened here. We will do everything to rebuild this city,” Otunbayeva said before a handful of people on the main square.
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