Uzbekistan's President: no civilian killed in Andijan

According to Uzbek President Islam Karimov, no civilians were killed in Andijan. Karimov attended a Tuesday press conference with Uzbek Prosecutor General Rashid Kadyrov who announced the information on the victims in Andijan. According to the Prosecutor General, 169 people were killed in the turmoil. Islam Karimov denied some media reports on 500 victims. "No civilians were killed. Reports on 500 victims are conjectures and deliberate misinformation," the President said. In his words, the events in Andijan were not a peaceful rally but a terrorist act. Only insurgents were killed in the operation, he stressed. "Weapons were found with dead bodies or near them.

They are being identified by the law enforcement bodies," Karimov noted. The head of state is indignant at some media coverage of the events in Andijan.

"What is the source of the information that a peaceful rally was attacked? Who said that 500 people were killed?" Karimov wondered.

The President of Uzbekistan invited journalists and diplomats to come to Andijan by plane on Wednesday.

He proposed them to find tombs of allegedly innocent victims of the authorities.