DUSHANBE, February 10, 2015, Asia-Plus — The killing of a villager in the Saryagash district in South Kazakhstan region has triggered violent protests.
Media sources report the murder was caused by a row over a greenhouse.
According to Kyrgyz news agency 24.kg reports, the regional police department said the riots in the village of Yntymaq late on February 5 left several vehicles burned down and a number of houses damaged.
The violence reportedly erupted after a 30-year-old resident Yntymaq, Bakhytzhan Artyqov, was found dead with stab wounds near the neighboring village of Bostandyq on February 4.
The clash reportedly started after the relatives of the killed Kazakh man began demanding the guilty be punished during a street rally. As a result, a group of several hundred ethnic Tajiks and Kazakhs gathered and started rioting.
The Nur.kz news site reported on February 7 that the ethnic Tajik man suspected of committing the murder that sparked the clash in southern Kazakhstan has been arrested over the border in Uzbekistan and immediately returned to Kazakhstan in a rapid-fire extradition.
Local authorities said the situation in Yntymaq has returned to calm after troops and police forces were deployed to the village.
