Kyrgyz Protests Spread to Second City
JALAL ABAD, Kyrgyzstan (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan's opposition took control of the country's second-biggest city on Monday, witnesses said, as protests demanding the resignation of President Askar Akayev swept the country's south.
Central Asian Kyrgyzstan has become the latest ex-Soviet republic -- after Ukraine and Georgia -- to be rocked by anti-government protests in the wake of elections judged as flawed by international observers.
Police and officials fled when about 3,000 opposition supporters marched on the regional administrative building in Osh, leaving the city in opposition hands, a witness told Reuters by telephone.
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The north, including the capital, Bishkek, has remained calm. But Akayev has warned any attempt to copy Ukraine's ``Orange Revolution'' could drag the mostly Muslim country of nearly five million into civil war.
The U.S State Department said in a statement it was ``concerned by incidents of violence in Dzhala Abad and other parts of the country,'' and called for dialogue.
The U.S. air force has a base near Bishkek which it says is part of its anti-terror campaign.
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