ANDIJAN, Uzbekistan - Tension was high but the dust from an overnight insurrection in this eastern Uzbek city seemed to be settling Friday when without warning the air was filled with the crackle of automatic weapons fire and within minutes dead and wounded lay on the square.
As around 5,000 protesters milled about on a central square, a truck packed with soldiers seemed to appear from nowhere and the troops immediately began firing, mainly into the air in an apparent bid to disperse the crowd, but nonetheless killing at least one person.
With the first pass, the crowd which included numerous women and children panicked and people began running in all directions to find safer ground outside the square while some remained on the scene despite two more passes by the truckload of soldiers who again fired into the air.
Around half an hour after the firing first started, a helicopter began circling above the area and more trucks appeared with more troops firing frequently into the air in what looked like continued efforts to force remaining demonstrators from the square.
The shooting came after thousands of supporters of the insurrection filled the centre of Andijan and local residents spoke of their terror at the night-time battle that resulted in the flight of security forces loyal to President Islam Karimov from the border town.
Bodies lay on the streets covered in blood, parents hid at home with their children as gunfire continued to ring out in the town of Andijan, close to this Central Asian country's border with Kyrgyzstan.
Some 2,000 prisoners were freed from the town's high security prison, a military base was stormed and administrative buildings seized in the violence.
By mid-afternoon, prior to the shooting, there was an eerie lull in the city amid reports of negotiations between insurrection leaders and security forces.
One of those freed from prison, Sharipjan Shakirov, apparently leading the insurgency, said he was a member of the little-known Akromiya Islamic movement.
He demanded the release from prison of a leading member of the group, Akram Yuldashov.
"We want Yuldashov's release and that of the others -- we're even willing to leave the country," Shakirov told AFP.
A large crowd, including many old people and children, gathered in the town's central square, speaker after speaker yelling their anger at Karimov's 14-year-rule.
"Don't disperse, we must keep together -- if we disperse they will shoot us all," cried one woman through a megaphone.
"Only women are able to work in Uzbekistan -- it's impossible for men to even leave their homes without being harassed," shouted another, hinting at the brutal treatment that rights campaigners say is always meted out to males in custody in Uzbekistan.
The tension of the situation was written on the faces of insurgents and harried residents alike.
Young men in track-suits patrolled around the governor's building, touting Kalashnikov rifles -- the standard weapon of Uzbekistan's soldiers.
Others barricaded the square with minibuses which they weighed down by filling with rocks.
Over the road, the town's main cinema was in flames.
"I was afraid a bullet could hit my children near the window," said a 33-year-old kindergarten teacher who lives close to where the fighting began.
"We didn't sleep at all, everyone's afraid -- I haven't event got bread to feed my children." she said.
Sealing off the town's perimeter were dozens of members of the security forces, just a hint of the vast security apparatus that the insurgents might again encounter, dressed also in plain clothes and touting Kalashnikovs.
05/13/2005 13:21 GMT