Soldiers in the central Asian republic of Uzbekistan have cleared rebels out of a state building in the eastern town of Andijan.
Troops have also dispersed up to 2,000 protestors who had gathered in the town’s main square following an overnight jailbreak.
The rebels had seized the government building and were holding ten policemen hostage.
‘The square has been cleared. Protesters have left. The building has been freed from those who seized it. The search for weapons is under way,’ a government source told the Reuters news agency.
The violence comes after a rare protest this week by hundreds of people demanding the release of 23 jailed Muslims who were on trial for religious extremism.
Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic with a population of 26 million, has come under criticism from western human rights groups for the mass jailing of Muslims who do not subscribe to state-sponsored Islam.
In a separate development, security guards at the Israeli embassy in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, have shot dead a man who approached the building in what they described as a suspicious manner, and who refused an order to stop.
