Eight people were killed in southern Kyrgyzstan on Friday in clashes between supporters of deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and backers of the interim government, a spokeswoman for a pro-Bakiyev group said.
"Eight Bakiyev supporters were killed; their bodies are now in the homes of their relatives. Forty of our people have been injured. They are in a city hospital," said Zhanar Moldokulova, a press secretary of a committee in defense of the former president.
The Kyrgyz Health Ministry said 63 had been hospitalized following the unrest in the city of Jalalabad, with 15 in serious condition. It said one person had died after being hospitalized.
Moldokulova rejected the interim government's version of events, saying none of the injured Bakiyev supporters were receiving medical assistance and no one was being allowed to visit them in the hospital.
An interim government source earlier said around 400 Bakiyev supporters had occupied the administrative building in Jalalabad. Later, supporters of the interim government said they had retaken the building.
Shots were fired into the air during the clashes and there have been reports that Bakiyev's supporters were armed with a grenade launcher.
The situation in Kyrgyzstan, where a bloody uprising led to the overthrow of the government in early April, worsened on Thursday when administrative buildings in three southern regions - Bakiyev's former power base - were stormed by his supporters.
MOSCOW, May 14 (RIA Novosti)
