Bishkek: Almost all the refugees who fled Kyrgyzstan during ethnic clashes and crossed the border into Uzbekistan have now returned, the deputy head of the country's border service said on Thursday.
"Around 70,000 refugees have already returned to Kyrgyzstan," Cholponbek Turusbekov told journalists. "Only yesterday around 26,000 refugees returned."
The Kyrgyz border service has said 75,000 Kyrgyz citizens fled to Uzbekistan during this month's violence, as gangs looted and burnt down the homes of the large ethnic Uzbek population in the country's south.
International aid groups have put the number at more than 100,000, however.
Large-scale unrest has ceased in the southern region, where officials say up to 2,000 people may have been killed during the ethnic clashes between the majority Kyrgyz and minority Uzbek populations.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, June 24, 2010, 13:17