Police have detained at least 20 people in southern Kyrgyzstan after a large mob torched the home of a murder suspect, raising fears of renewed unrest in the region.
Several hundred protesters gathered in the town of Nookat Tuesday, demanding authorities step up their probe into last week's killing of the deputy head of the regional tax service. The suspects in the tax officer's death are ethnic Uzbeks.
The protesters, reportedly ethnic Kyrgyz, set fire to one of the suspect's homes Tuesday before police dispersed them.
Southern Kyrgyzstan was the scene of deadly riots between Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks in June of last year. The violence killed hundreds of people, mostly Uzbeks.
Kyrgyzstan hosts an important U.S. air base that serves as a key link supplying U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.
