MOSCOW. May 17 (Interfax-AVN) - Uzbekistan's security services are searching for people who took part in last week's protests in the city of Andizhan in the country's east, a military source in Tashkent told Interfax by phone on Monday.
"Several people have been detained. Investigations have been launched to check their involvement in the riot in Andizhan. There are several people who escaped from Andizhan's pre-trial detention center among the detainees. Weapons were confiscated from three of them," the source said.
"Checkpoints have been set up and ID checks are being carried out along all the roads within a radius of 30-40 kilometers around Andizhan. People treat our measures with understanding, tell the police about suspicious people and help comb the area," he said.
"Incidentally, local residents have turned in several submachine guns that were abandoned by some of the fleeing insurgents," the source said.
"Assistance from people living on the border is particularly valuable, as nobody knows paths and possible illegal routes leading to Kyrgyzstan better," he said.
A man living in Karasuu, a Kyrgyz town on the border with Uzbekistan, told Interfax by phone that the town has virtually been plunged into anarchy. There are no police in the streets, "though military checkpoints set up near the town have sealed off all the exits," he said.