Death toll reaches 82 in Kyrgyzstan unrest: ministry

Ethnic violence in south Kyrgyzstan, that swept the region in the last few days, claimed at least 80 lives and left over 1,000 injured, a media report said on Sunday.

Ethnic violence in southern Kyrgyzstan has left 82 dead and more than a thousand wounded, according to revised figures released on Sunday by the Kyrgyz health ministry.

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The previous death toll stood at 79.

Since Thursday evening, "82 people have been killed" during the clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbek in and around the southern cities of Osh and Jalalabad, the ministry said.

According to their latest figures 1,076 have been wounded in the violence.

The interim government on Saturday expanded a state of emergency in Osh to the neighbouring region of Jalalabad, imposing curfews in a bid to contain the spreading unrest.

Since April's deadly uprising, which ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, foreign leaders have warned of the danger of civil war in the strategically vital state, which hosts both US and Russian military bases.