QORASUV, Uzbekistan - Uzbek forces retook control of the eastern border town of Qorasuv early on Thursday after days of unrest in the aftermath of bloody clashes in nearby Andizhan.
Interior ministry troops rolled into the town on the border with Kyrgyzstan at 4 a.m. and, encountering little if any resistance, quickly established control over bridges and other key points, local people said.
A dozen soldiers in full combat gear on Thursday lounged near the bridge spanning the small river that forms part of the border with Kyrgyzstan, drinking soup and sipping tea.
There were few soldiers elsewhere in the town and no signs of violence.
But the atmosphere was tense and the few people out on the streets were reluctant to speak. "We are scared to be punished. Even walls have ears," one of them told this correspondent.
The small town with a population of about 25,000 has seethed with unrest since last Saturday when about 200 or so people rebelled and destroyed a local police headquarters.
The unrest came a day after bloodshed in Andizhan when, witnesses say, troops opened fire on rebels and protesters, killing hundreds.
The violence in the tightly-controlled Central Asian state has led to expressions of concern from the West and the United States, which regards the mainly-Muslim country as an ally in the war on terrorism.
The Uzbek government says 169 people were killed in the May 13 Andizhan violence, most of them "bandits" who themselves had killed civilians and security officials.
But witnesses said some 500 people, including women and children, were killed when security forces opened fire on rebels and protesters.
NOT POLITICS OR ISLAM
The trouble in Andizhan was sparked by a trial of 23 businessmen and blamed by President Islam Karimov on Islamic extremists.
But locals said neither politics nor Islam had anything to do with the Qorasuv unrest. They said many people had taken advantage of events in Andizhan to vent their anger over the closure of bridges with Kyrgyzstan that had divided families for years.
One 30-year-old who identified himself as Adaham discounted foreign news reports of a rebellion led by an Islamic leader, Bakhtiyor Rakhimov, who said he intended to build an Islamic state.
"Rakhimov has no strong influence. Residents simply wanted good for the people who have not been able to see their relatives for six years," he said.
The BBC earlier reported that Rakhimov was arrested by the troops who swept into the town on Thursday. Prosecutor General's office in Uzbek capital Tashkent could not immediately confirm his arrest.
Soldiers refused to discuss their operation and waved away press photographers.
Earlier, witnesses on the Kyrgyz side of the border said a military helicopter hovered over the town in the morning. One trader who crossed from Uzbekistan into Kyrgyzstan said troops had been hunting down people connected to unrest.
Though the border was open for routine trade and visits by local families on Thursday, Uzbek police were questioning people crossing in from Kyrgyzstan.
In Tashkent, a state security spokesman said: "Even if there are any arrests (in Qorasuv) they are being carried out only within the framework of criminal investigations.
"The situation there is stable. Border and customs services are functioning normally," Alimzhon Turakulov said.
Washington has urged President Islam Karimov to be open about events in Andizhan, while the United Nations and the European Union have called for an independent inquiry.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has called on Karimov to agree to an independent international inquiry. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said on Thursday that the U.S.-led alliance was "very worried" about the bloodshed and would like to see free access to the region.