The death toll in Kyrgyzstan's interethnic clashes has risen to 117, the AKIpress news agency reported Monday, updating its earlier figure of 114.
Some 1,500 were injured in clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek groups that swept through the country's second-largest city of Osh and another southern city of Jalal-Abad on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The border between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan was closed following the riots, during which cars were set on fire, and stores, markets and residential buildings smashed and looted.
Kyrgyz and Uzbek ethnic leaders in Kyrgyzstan agreed on Sunday to begin reconciliation talks.
Officials from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) were set to gather on Monday to discuss ways to resolve the crisis in Kyrgyzstan, including possible deployment of a peacekeeping contingent.
CSTO, a post-Soviet security bloc, comprises Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon decided to send his special envoy to Kyrgyzstan.
The Russian Defense Ministry sent on Sunday an additional 150 paratroopers to enhance security at its airbase in Kyrgyzstan. The paratroopers are to provide security to Russian soldiers serving at the Kant base, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) outside the capital, Bishkek, and their families.
More than 75,000 ethnic Uzbeks have reportedly fled Kyrgyzstan to take refuge in Uzbekistan following the unrest.
BISHKEK, June 14 (RIA Novosti)
